Hourglass
by TLOSpyrogirl
Summary: Tempo has a lot to learn, both about herself and the world around her. She's lost her sight, her memories, and her family. But through the darkness that has consumed her, five lights, in the form of Rukas and the Guardians, will guide her home.
1. A Girl With Amnesia

**A/N:  
>Well, I got bored. So, here's the second new story I promised. MAYBE if I can get enough PATIENCE to actually wait until my stories are DONE... *grumble* Please note that this story is going to be a little jumpy, sometimes lighthearted and sometimes gloomy.<strong>

**My musical inspiration for this story is (depending on what I feel more fits the tone of the story at the time) Linkin Park - Breaking the Habit (Piano Cover) by Xunoor, and Memories of the Mind -The Piano Pony Album by PonyVisation. The last is good for the softer chapters without much action. **

**The hourglass in the cover was found by searching 'free to use, share, or modify' on Google, which means I have the rights to use it. The cover itself, minus the hourglass, was made by me. Please do not use it without my consent or knowledge.**

* * *

><p>I was so foolish. So stupid. A stupid little girl. I should have seen it coming and stopped it before it began. But... how could I have understood? I didn't know what I possessed... just how powerful I could be. I could have ended it, but I didn't, and somebody else had to bear the burden. So many people died because of me.<p>

I failed. That's all that matters now.

I can hear them calling my name, screaming it to the skies in furious howls. It tugs at my mind, pulling me, and though I resist, it won't fade. They want me back. But they can't have me. I won't let them take me away again!

* * *

><p>Slowly, I came into consciousness, taking careful steps down the dark tunnel. I felt colder than I ever had before, and my head throbbed painfully. Something began to grow before me as I walked ever slowly onwards. A light, so dark that it gave off no illumination and no colour. Warmth rushed towards me, as well as air. As I hobbled forward, suddenly feeling weaker than ever, the dark-light growing and growing until it consumed me and I was... I...<p>

I was alive.

My tingling paw closed around something soft that was the only thing between me and the hard ground. A blanket? I had little time to focus, though, as I detected another presence in the room.

"H-hello?" I stuttered. My hoarse voice was unrecognizable.

"Are you okay?" It was a boy who had spoken. I heard his claws click on the ground as he stepped towards me.

Unable to articulate an answer to that, I only said, "I can't remember a thing."

My memory was blank, only occasional flashes of colour in the eternal darkness. And why _was _it so dark anyway? Confused, I managed to raise my head and touch my face with my paw, trying to ignore the ache that shot through me. But instead of eyes, there was only a rough strip of cloth.

It hit me then; a remembrance without a memory to hold it. I was blind. A shudder ran through me, and my only thought was... how could this have happened?

The boy who had been standing near me turned and ran, his light footsteps indicating that he was young. Definitely a dragon, I thought, judging by the way he ran.

"She's awake! She's awake!" the boy cried and the sound of his steps faded.

I sat there for a minute in silence, trying to grasp my memories. Failing at this, my thoughts turned to the present. Where was I? Who was taking care of me? That boy was yelling for somebody, so there was obviously another person here. What if he was mean, or had even been the cause of my amnesia? Perhaps it was better if I just left. With this thought in mind, I tried to stand up, but I quickly realized this was not an option as I dropped right back down again. I was just too weak to support myself, not to mention moving, even slightly, hurt. Well, I definitely wasn't going anywhere.

_Who tried to kill me? _I thought, running the side of a claw along a gash on my chest. The wound had been deep, but it was scabbed over now.

With a sigh, I inhaled and managed to pull myself into a sitting position without crying out in pain. As I waited for the sting to subside and did my best not to fall back down again, I tsked and felt the steps of the boy returning. A larger, older dragon followed behind him and I could hear their faint voices.

It took me a few seconds to realize that I wasn't hearing the footsteps. But then how...? I concentrated, grabbing onto this somehow-familiar feeling that allowed me to pinpoint where they were walking. Was it... echolocation? But the feeling was gone now.

I tsked again. The feelings returned, faint at first but growing more intense the more I clicked. Judging by the position of the steps and the faint vibrations coming from what I perceived to be walls, the dragons were just about to round the corner.

"_Who _am I?" I demanded the moment the two walked into the room. This time, I could clearly see a picture of them in my mind, as well as the room I was in, small and completely empty. There was little detail in the picture; only blurry outlines and noise, but I could still _see _the dragons.

The only answer to my question was a wave of silence for several seconds, but then the water retreated back into the ocean and the older dragon spoke. "That is something we are still trying to figure out." The one who had spoken was male as well, and he sounded very wise, the person behind the voice having learnt much throughout his years.

"Then where am I?" I asked tensely. "What happened to me?"

"You're in the Temple," the young dragon said. "When we found you, you were pretty badly hurt, so we brought you back here so you could heal."

"But... why can't I remember anything?"

"Perhaps you suffered an injury to your head," the older dragon said. I sighed. Maybe that was it, but it still gave rise to the main question: who was trying to kill me?

"You need to rest," the older dragon continued. "It will take some time for you to heal." With that, he and the young boy retreated.

Sighing again, I lowered my head. So many questions, and no answers. Perhaps if I slept, everything would come back to me in the morning...

As I drifted off to sleep, a part of me that had been buried deep for a long time didn't want it to.

~~...~~

I snapped awake suddenly, but I stayed completely still. At first I wasn't sure where I was, what had happened. I strained to hear something, careful not to move a single inch. It took me a few moments more to remember what had happened and relax. I was in no danger, at least not at the moment. Sensing a presence, I tsked. It was the boy, who stood over me and stared down.

"Yes?" I asked.

He jumped. "How did you know I was there? Ignitus told me you were blind."

"I just... know," I said, not sure how to explain it. "Who's Ignitus?"

"He's the dragon you were talking to earlier," the boy explained. Nodding, I sat up. It didn't hurt anymore, so I carefully climbed to my feet and took a few cautious steps forward, as if I were a hatchling learning to walk.

"Hey! You're doing it!" the boy exclaimed. "Do you think you'll be alright?"

"Yes, I'll be fine. What's your name?" I inquired, finishing my journey to the other side of the room and coming back. It felt good to stretch my legs.

"I'm Rukas. What's _your _name?" Rukas asked.

I remained silent, not knowing the answer. My memory was only a blank blur; colours and noises blended together like a painting left out in the rain, with the occasional lapse of undying silence. I tried in vain to grasp for a name, but every time I did it slipped through my paws like sand.

Rukas nodded as his form began to fade in my mind before returning when he spoke. "I understand."

There was a long silence, during which Rukas regarded me with what might have been curiosity—or at least, that's what he was doing before he faded into the blackness. I took this time to contemplate the little dragon. He seemed... nice.

_Not a lot of people have been nice to me, _I thought, pausing a few moments later. How did I know that? Well, no matter. Maybe Rukas and I could be friends... A friend was what I needed right now.

"Do you want to go outside?" Rukas asked, the silence around him shattering like glass.

"Alright," I said. It would be nice to get a breath of fresh air.

"There's a balcony nearby. It's nicer up there. Follow me, it's not far." Rukas stood and turned, leading me out the door.

I followed him, easily keeping pace. I liked how he didn't assume I was helpless and couldn't get around myself just because I was blind.

The Temple was quiet, the only sound our light footsteps as we silently walked through the halls. Curiously, the doors slid open at our approach then softly closed again once we walked away. This place was clearly magical. Eventually, we came to a circular room too large for me to be able to detect all but the area nearest to us. In the middle of the room stood some sort of large pedestal. Confused, I walked over to it and stamped the ground with much force. The sound was just loud enough to send the whole thing bouncing back to me. It was some sort of statue, a dragon sitting and staring down at me.

"They didn't tell me who it is," Rukas said quietly, stepping up behind me. "But I think I know."

I walked up closer to the pedestal, not replying, and slowly brought my paw up to the circular carvings in the middle. Though I didn't even seem to notice them, so engrossed was I, whispers began to fill my ears. Some were loud, some were quiet, but only one could be just barely heard.

_Te... Tem... The grains are draining (can't stop it), the hourglass is waiting (can't flip it over). It won't stop until you're swallowed (glass won't break), and all the ones you love have followed (they can't escape). Te... Tem... _

I hesitated, shook my head, and backed away. "Come on, Rukas, let's find the balcony," I said, trying to forget about the statue.

"It's right over here," Rukas said, not giving me a second glance.

We walked towards the door on the other side of the room that slid open quietly on approach, allowing us exit. Onto the balcony we headed, me absorbed in examining the place. There was a slight incline here leading down onto a large circular area. A short wall surrounded the area, and a few arches were attached to the walls that ran down the hill. I felt their shadows pass over me. Rukas and I sat down near the wall at the bottom. The wind bit into my scales, but I didn't mind, as the air was so crisp and fresh... It just smelled perfectly like autumn. I had a sudden hunger to know what it looked like; though my memories were held just out of reach, I could almost picture vivid colours from fall.

"What does it look like? This place?" I asked Rukas, who was staring off into the sky.

Rukas spent a moment contemplating before saying, "The trees in the swamp have changed their leaves from green to yellow and red and orange. It really pretty. The mushrooms don't change, though, and they're everywhere so trees are scarce. If you lean over the wall, you can see the ground, covered with leaves from the tree near us. And if you look really hard, you can spot the Toadweeds down there."

"What are Toadweeds?" I interrupted.

"They're like giant toads, but they disguise themselves as mushrooms. You can tell the difference, though, 'cause you can see them breathing. Anyway, to the west you can just see the edge of the forest, and it's bright out there too. A small cliff is blocking part of the view, but it's not close to us. The sun's still rising, so it's kind of dark, but I like it at this time of day." With that, Rukas went silent.

The peaceful silence resumed, so I spent the time picturing the scene Rukas had given me. The colours were so dull that they were almost gone, but it was still beautiful.

"The sun will be up in no time," Rukas said suddenly.

"W-what did you say?" I asked dazedly, an odd feeling coming over me.

"There's no time left until the sun rises," Rukas repeated, looking at me strangely.

His first sentence was enough to throw me into a trance that couldn't be escaped, and the second one blinded me completely and shrouded my mind in darkness. My "vision" began to glow a blinding white, sucking me in and taking me somewhere else... somewhere in my mind.

The static that had surrounded me cleared and I was in a room. A female dragon stood before me, and I felt that perhaps I was dreaming. Everything in my sight was black and white, only highlighted by occasional greys.

"Tempo... Tempo! Get up, quickly!" the dragon said, voice quivering with badly disguised fear. She sounded like a rabbit, helpless and cornered by the predator that had been chasing her for so long. I quickly complied with her request, though my movements occurred automatically.

There was a loud crash and glass skittered across the ground before me. I didn't turn to look, though, and my spirit wasn't in control. I crouched lower to the ground as the dragon left me.

"Oh, ancestors help us," she whispered. "There's no time for this..."

With that, the static returned and after a moment I was thrust back into the unending blackness. The singing of birds that had just begun to wake up and the soft rustle of leaves returned, and I was back again.

"Are you okay?!" Rukas, who was standing over me, demanded. A paw rested on my shoulder, which he quickly retracted as I stood up shakily.

"Tempo... That's it! My name is Tempo!" I exclaimed. The dragon had called me that... but who was she? Perhaps my mother? No time to think, for Rukas spoke.

"What was that you did?" Rukas asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You just fainted, and while you were lying there you started to glow this bright blue. I'm not sure what happened."

"I was... glowing?" I asked slowly, pausing to consider this. It was all so strange. That was certainly a memory coming back to me; it was so familiar... but the contents unnerved me. But why did I faint, and why was I glowing, of all things?

"Maybe we should tell the Guardians about this. They might be able to help," Rukas said.

"The Guardians?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Yeah, there's four, each a master of an element. Ignitus is one of them." Rukas began to lead me forward. "Come on, they can't be far."

I nodded and followed him. Though I tried not to, I began to think about that memory. What was going on there? Was that dragon my mother, and if not, who is she? Why did she sound so frightened, and who broke the window? My first memory was not a good one, with too many questions, and I was afraid to learn the answer to every last one of them.

_What am I? _I wondered.


	2. A Breach of Security

As I followed Rukas through the long halls, I suddenly felt nervous. I was an outsider here, a person from a faraway land who knew not of the ways of the people in the place they had come to. Perhaps the Guardians would be like Rukas, kind and welcoming, but what if they weren't?

Rukas, by the time we had reached the place he was leading me too, was deep in thought. I could detect the aura of uncertainty that radiated from him like light from the sun. The door before us slid open and I could weakly detect the forms of the four Guardians.

"I see you're awake," one of them said. It wasn't Ignitus; this one's voice was too deep. It was a deep rumbling baritone, and vaguely reminded me of an earthquake.

"Yes," I said simply with a nod. Expecting Rukas to speak, I said no more.

Rukas shifted, more uneasy than ever, it seemed. He began slowly but spoke more quickly as his words progressed. "She remembered her name... It's Tempo. That's all."

With that, Rukas tapped my arm and walked quickly out of the room—but not too quickly, as not to arouse suspicion. I followed him at a normal pace until we were back on the balcony again, out of earshot.

"I thought you wanted to tell them about what happened?" I asked. "And while I was doing that, I remembered a piece of my life. Shouldn't we tell them about that?"

"It's better if we don't," Rukas said quietly.

"Why?"

"I don't know how they'll react. Glowing isn't exactly normal, Tempo. If they found out... maybe nothing would happen, but it could be bad." Rukas shook his head.

"And the memory?"

"Well, what was in it?"

I paused in thought and examined the one piece of colour among my blackened mind. "I was in this house and a dragon—my mother, I think—was telling me to get up. Then, somebody threw something threw the window. It ended there."

"We better keep that a secret too," Rukas said with a slow nod. Noticing my dubiousness, he added, "It's not like it'll hurt anybody."

"Alright, Rukas," I said with a sigh. "If that's what you think is best."

What else was I supposed to do? Rukas was right. The vision was odd in and of itself, but who knows how the Guardians would react to the glowing? It was best to just stay quiet and let it pass over, even if that meant lying.

~~...~~

A week passed between that day and the one about to be told. The days were quiet; I hadn't often seen the Guardians and Rukas, too, was rarely around, as he spent much of his time in the surrounding swamp. So, I was left to my own devices. These "devices" usually consisted of sitting on the balcony and turning a sightless gaze onto the courtyard below.

Occasionally, if I was concentrating, I could just faintly feel Rukas wandering around down there. He was a heavy walker and the vibrations could just reach me. But I usually just payed attention to the swaying of trees. My echolocation didn't capture the movement perfectly; it was jerky and my slow _tap tap tap _on the wall wasn't fast enough to release and receive vibrations every second. But I could still imagine its beauty.

With a sigh, I set my head on the guard-wall. The balcony had quickly grown to be my favourite spot in the whole Temple. Though there wasn't much around to detect, it was just so nice out here, with the crisp fall air and the leaves that, with a crackle and a snap, broke free of their branchy captors. And it was so quiet. Only the occasional bird chirped merrily, and I would sometimes hear a mournful wolf howl rise up through the treetops of the distant forest. But other than that, there was only the blowing wind and my tapping.

I'd just stopped drumming the ground and had just become lost in my own thoughts when a weak vibration came to me. Someone was coming, and I knew it must be Rukas, as he tread too light to be one of the Guardians. Because I was blind, I could not identify people by their face, so I simply did so by the way they walked.

The door behind me slid open and I turned to greet Rukas. Over the past week, we had become amiable friends, acting almost as if we had known each other for several years. I had no idea why he wanted a quiet, blind amnesiac as a friend... but I needed him more than ever, so I thought it better not to ask.

"Hi, Tempo," Rukas said, walking over and sitting down beside me.

"Hey," I said absentmindedly.

Rukas seemed to examine me for a moment before speaking up. "Is something on your mind?"

Dear Rukas. He always seemed to know when something was wrong, and easily cheered me up. But I wasn't sure if I wanted him to be there for what I knew was about to occur. But, though I knew he'd want to stay with me even more now, I confessed.

"I can feel a memory coming... It's tugging at the back of my mind, but I can't hold onto it. Something tells me I don't want to, but I should... I don't know," I said, voice quavering ever so slightly. "What if it's as bad as the last one?"

"You'll get through it. How bad can it be?" Rukas reassured. He paused for a moment and said, "But, Tempo, I've wanted to ask you something..."

"What is it?"

"There's a strip of cloth tied around your arm. Why is it there?"

"A strip of...?" I ran a claw along my left wrist, and sure enough, there _was _a cloth there. It was identical in texture to the cloth wrapped around my eyes.

Confused, I picked at it until I managed to untie the small knot. I showed my wrist to Rukas and waited for him to say something, but he never did.

"...What is it?" I demanded, uneasy.

"It's... it's an hourglass..."

Rukas took a step back, but I didn't see it. Like a wolf moving silently through the night, the memory that had stalked me silently now pounced. I was trapped beneath it, unable to break free, and it quickly swept me away in the white void.

I could hear the laughter before my vision cleared. It was a deep, malignant laughter that seemed to wear away at the walls of my mind. When I finally did gain my vision, there was only a cloud of smoke and haze about me. I couldn't see, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything but relive this memory against my will.

It didn't take me much longer to realize that I was struggling wildly and that something was being driven into my wrist. I refused to scream, but it hurt so much that I could barely take it. I began to fight harder until I thought I was going to break loose.

The one holding my arm grunted and growled out, "Hold her still!"

Somebody complied with his request quickly and I was soon held down and unable to struggle in the tiniest bit. I coughed, trying in vain to at least release the smoke from my lungs, but not even that worked. The pain grew more and more intense over the course of what seemed to be hours but was only a few seconds more. My arm was released and I dragged it closer to me. Blood, so sickeningly red against grey scales, streamed down it. I could just make out the symbol that had been carved. Hourglass.

"Now you're marked and you won't be able to hide from us again," the one who had done this to me said with a short laugh. I remained perfectly still, face emotionless, even when I saw the glint of a dagger's blade before my eyes. "Now be still, and maybe I won't kill you."

I knew what was coming next, and fear, my own fear and not the fear of the girl in this memory, swelled up in my chest. I did not want to live through that ever again. But the memory didn't end, and the dagger drew slowly closer and closer to my eyes. The person who held it tensed and the blade rushed forward without warning, but before the pain came, the memory faded into sweet, sweet blackness.

As the feeling came back into my body, I realized I want breathing heavily and my heart was beating so loudly that at first I thought it was the pounding of a drum. Clenched in my paw was the cloth. I suddenly realized that Rukas had his paw on my shoulder just like last time, but now he was gripping my shoulder so hard that his claws nearly dug into it. Compared to what I had just felt, though, that pain was vastly inferior.

As soon as Rukas realized I was awake, he cried out. "Tempo!"

I was on the ground, so I picked myself up and faced Rukas. He had backed away now, all the way to the other side of the balcony.

"Hush. It's alright." I spoke in a reassuring tone, trying to sound as calm as I could. Using my teeth to help, I managed to quickly, if not neatly, retie the cloth around my wrist.

"N-no, it's not," Rukas stammered. "You were t-talking and some of the things you said..."

Of all the terrible things that could happen, him knowing what had happened was the worst. It only took that one memory to make me realize that a shadow was lingering over my past, and that darkness was greater than I. Rukas should not be a part of the shadow; it was mine to carry and mine alone.

After a long pause, I uncertainly said, "We mustn't let the Guardians know of this. _Ever. _I don't know what's happening and, whatever it is, I'm afraid of what they might do if they find out."

"Tempo, I—"

"It is important that they don't know!" I snapped. Noticing Rukas' quivering form, which betrayed the sadness and fear that might have been on his face, I lowered my voice to a calm tone. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Just like last time?" Rukas whimpered, taking a step forward.

"Just like last time. Don't worry, Rukas. Everything's going to be alright," I whispered.

I shouldn't have lied to him, but there was nothing else I could have done.

* * *

><p>The next few months were peaceful and without hindrance. Rukas and I soon grew attached to each other and we were nearly inseparable. We were an odd pair; Rukas, though he was very firmly attached to the ground, did occasionally wander into a childish fantasy. He was usually serious and quiet, but he wasn't afraid to laugh. Me, I was the somber one, hardly smiling at all. Like Rukas, I was serious, but I was much more reserved than him. Then, of course, there was the fact that I was blind. This might not seem like a great wall between our friendship, but I could never see the world as Rukas did, and he could never feel it like I could. But somehow, our friendship endured.<p>

As for the Guardians, I still didn't see them very often, and I couldn't help but hear the whispers no matter how hard I tried to ignore them. They had a right to be suspicious, to wonder what and who I was. But at the time, I thought it was better if they, and even I, never knew.

But, the Temple eventually became my home and all of its inhabitants a sort of family. Perhaps I thought of it that way because I had no true home or family to speak of, only blackness. I don't know. All I know was that it was pure bliss. I received no more memories, and for that I was glad. The two I had already stained my mind and darkened my almost dreamless sleep.

But I knew in my heart that the happiness must come to an end. When it did, my life would never truly be the same, never _really _possess the happiness I had then. But like a child, I tried to ignore the black clouds that I could clearly see were approaching, rather than seek out shelter. And when the storm finally hit, it ravaged the earth in a torrent of icy rain and earth-shaking thunder. The small dragon that was the only reason that I didn't give up then and there. I tried to run, but it was too late. The lightning struck quickly, bringing us to our knees.

Rukas... forgive me for being so blind.

* * *

><p>"Tempo." His voice was calm, as if he didn't want to worry me. I barely stirred at the sound of it.<p>

Tonight, for once, my sleep was not just a few fitful lapses of bad dreams. They were only growing worse now.

"Tempo!" I snapped awake, the severity of the voice scaring me from my peaceful dreams.

"Ignitus?" I asked, getting to my feet as quickly as I could. I drowsily shook my head, and recalling the tone of his voice, tensed. Whatever it was he wanted, it sounded urgent. "What's wrong?"

"It's no longer safe here; we must leave. Rukas and the other Guardians are waiting. Follow me," Ignitus said, voice low. He didn't wait for the many questions I wanted to ask, only turned and walked away.

I followed him as he told me to, figuring it would be better to ask him what was going on later, but I was still confused. What did he mean, the Temple was no longer safe? Safe from what? And how could it be unsafe when it was nearly impenetrable and guarded by masters of the elements? My head spun and every step made me even more dizzy, but something (instinct, perhaps) told me to be silent.

The fear didn't begin to set in until we joined up with the others. Nobody said a single word, and though I could not see, it was easy to picture the grave looks that must have been on the Guardians' faces. We set out towards the entrance, but it was clear on the other side of the Temple, so we had a long walk.

I strained to hear something, anything that would help me identify the Guardians' unspoken fears, but there was only the soft sound of our footsteps. I was too afraid to make any noise in order to send out vibrations further, as whatever enemy was around might become alerted to our presence.

I fell back out of the group and Rukas followed, edging up close to me. I swiveled my head around, still straining to hear something, but I could not.

"Why are we leaving?" I whispered to Rukas, frustrated.

"I don't know," Rukas whispered back. He shot a glance at the Guardians, but if they could hear us, they didn't say anything.

"Igni—" I began.

"Quiet. They're nearby," Ignitus said in a low voice. I glanced at Rukas, but he only shrugged. Why did I expect an answer from him anyhow?

We walked for a few more minutes, until I knew we were almost there. The entrance was only a few rooms away. My fears began to ease then; surely, once we were outside, we'd be safe. Safe from... whatever was chasing us. At least then I'd finally have answers.

Seeing that it was about three in the morning, I was tired and did not pay attention. Before I knew it, I was stumbling sideways, about to fall over from exhaustion, but the wall caught me. And it was just when I hit that wall that I noticed it.

"Something's coming, fast," I said, straightening. We had just exited the long hallway and had entered the pool room. The enemies were only a few more rooms away.

"Both of you, get into the corner and stay there!" Terrador commanded after a short pause. Rukas and I quickly followed his order, ducking into the nearest corner and huddling together.

It didn't take long for the entities I had sensed to enter the room. Rukas pressed against me, whimpering, and I did my best to silently comfort him. All but one of the creatures were small, only as tall as Rukas, but the biggest among them stood a bit below the Guardians' heights. In any case, they didn't take long to begin their attack.

I could not see the battle and I did my best to block it out of my mind, as Rukas was my main concern now. His breathing had become irregular, as if he were crying, so I did my best to shield him from the raging battle.

Eventually, the fight spilled into the next room and Rukas and I were left alone—or so I thought. When I realized that another creature still lingered, and it was the biggest one of them all, I pressed against the wall. Without the Guardians to protect us, we were vulnerable. I did not, as far as I knew, have an element. I had not been able to breathe a single thing, and any attempt was in vain. As for Rukas, I didn't expect a child to keep us safe. So if that creature caught us and we could not get away...

As much as I hoped he would not see us, those hopes did not come true. I knew immediately that he had spotted us when he took a few steps forward then a step back. He seemed to be staring at us. I held perfectly still, continuing to cling to a last shred of hope, but the thread snapped.

"Well now, what do we have 'ere?" the creature drawled in a thick voice.

Though I wasn't sure how, I knew as soon as he spoke what he was. _Ape, _my mind hissed at me, and that simple word caused my heart to leap up into my throat.

But another thing scared me, too, but I wasn't sure what is was. It was something about this... ape, something so terrifyingly familiar. And it hit me suddenly, like a splash of water from the arctic; so cold that it burned.

This ape, from my last vision, was the one who had cut out my eyes.


	3. A Visit From the Chronicler

"Is that who I think it is? The Blind Watcher, our army's most important guide. Or at least ya were," the ape said, voice holding just a hint of amusement.

"What? Tempo, what's he talking about?" Rukas asked. The shock in his voice made me wilt like a dying flower.

"So, ya haven't told them yet, eh?" the ape asked smugly.

"I don't know what you're talking about. What army?" I asked tensely. I was confused, but I tried to remain strong on the outside.

Rukas began to move away from me slowly, but it brought me back to attention. "Rukas, run," I hissed, making only slightly movements so the ape wouldn't see. Rukas complied, beginning a slow crawl towards the door.

"Don't play stupid with me, Watcher," the ape growled. "You had your chance, but you ran again and Malefor's lost his patience with you. He wants to personally see you killed, and I intend to deliver, but first, say goodbye to your friend!"

In one swift movement, the ape had picked up Rukas and was holding a sword to his throat, laughing maliciously all the way. Rukas cried out and my heart stopped completely when I realized what was going to happen to him.

"Rukas! No!" I screamed, bounding forward, but I knew it was too late. Even when the Guardians came crashing through the door, I was not reassured; they could not help.

I felt as if the world had begun to slow around me. No, not just around me—I was not running as fast as I had been. Perhaps it was just my imagination, but then what was the bluish purple colour that tinted the edges of the black I always saw? I'm not sure how I knew the colour; it had all but left me. But in any case, something was happening. I didn't know what, but perhaps it would help me save Rukas.

I leapt into the air, still slowed down.

I knew a peace I hadn't felt in years then; the world seemed so calm, small waves lapping gently on an ocean shore. For a moment, I forgot everything, retreating into that beautiful and ignorant darkness that was the only thing preceding this place. There was no Rukas, no Guardians, and the terrible things that had happened were gone, gone, gone.

But it couldn't be that way for long; the world sped up again mid-leap, the tint leaving my vision, and I lunged back into the icy waters of reality. I knew I had to stay there, too; if I allowed myself to slip, Rukas and I would die.

Before I knew it, I had grabbed the ape's arm. He had stopped all action then, and was only staring at me. My heart began to pound then, breathing intensifying, and I closed my grip onto the ape. He cried out, but I didn't care; rage was running rampant through my mind, blocking out every other thought.

I had lost control, and I felt as if something else was controlling me. Some ancient power had been untapped and I could feel it coursing through my veins. My... element? Yes, that was exactly what it was.

It didn't matter, though, as all my thoughts were on the ape. He had begun to struggle, but I did not let go. A wave of concentration swept over me, but the thing I was concentrating upon was indiscernible, dancing just out of my sight when I tried to focus on it. It didn't matter, though, because something was happening.

The ape's arm was becoming thinner and bonier under my paw, which alarmed him greatly, as he was now wildly trying to get away. The fear had gripped his mind and it only screamed one thing: _Escape! _But he could not escape; my grip was too tight and an overwhelming strength seemed to have taken over me.

Seconds flew by and the ape only grew thinner, his howls filling my ears and deafening me. But there would be no mercy. He hadn't shown any to me. The ape suddenly let go of Rukas, who dashed off into the corner, and the ape's shrieks became strangled cries and ceased a moment later. Then, suddenly, his bones crumbled to dust and I fell forward.

A thick haze set in over my mind. I could not move, speak, or do anything. I did not acknowledge the trembling Rukas backed against the wall or the silent Guardians in the doorway. A moment later, I slumped and succumbed to the darkness. I didn't care what happened anymore.

~~...~~

Groaning, I opened my eyes. Where... where _was _I? I was sprawled on a hard stone floor in a dark room, illuminated only by a single candle in the corner. Drops of water occasionally dripped from the ceiling, landing in a small puddle and sending ripples coursing through it.

Something was off, though. The stone room itself, bare and devoid of any object except the candle, was completely normal. It was something about me, then. But what...?

I blinked, and at that moment it hit me. I could see! It was just like in my flashbacks, except I was truly in control. The whys and wherefores didn't matter to me at the moment; I had my sight back and I could see! Scurrying over to a puddle, I gazed down at my blurry reflection, going over every detail.

I was an ivory sort of colour, mainly, with eyes and other highlights a shade of grey that was almost white. I was tall, but also small and weak-looking. Of course, I _did _look rather young; I could only be as old as nine, perhaps eight. Uneasiness beginning to settle in my mind, I looked at my wrist. The scar was gone.

Confused, I tried to back away from the puddle, but the sudden desire to stay where I was overcame me and I could not resist. The dream-like cloudiness that had been tugging at the back of my mind suddenly intensified and I was thrown into a strange trance, halfway between awareness and sleep.

"Do you remember this place?" The low voice that suddenly resounded through the room was male and it lingered under a guise of calm peace.

Confused, I looked around, but there was nobody in sight. Turning my gaze back to the puddle, I said, "No... Where am I? Who are you?"

"I am known as the Chronicler. As for this place, you should remember it soon... It was an important place in your earlier life," the Chronicler replied.

"The Chronicler?" I paused in thought, but I didn't remember ever hearing that. Finally, I asked, "Why are you in my dream?"

"I've come to help you unlock your powers. They've lain dormant inside you for too long now."

"Powers?"

"Your element is a rare one indeed... Few dragons left possess it."

"What is it?" I asked, gaze still locked into the shallow depths of the puddle.

"Time," was the simple answer.

"Time? That's not an element... Is it?" I asked, skeptical. I looked around the room, searching again for the speaker, but he was nowhere to be found.

"It is as much an element as fire or shadow, Tempo." The Chronicler patiently accepted my volley of questions, which was good because there were many more to come.

Turning my gaze back to the puddle and staring into its calm depths, I asked, "How does the element work?"

"Time is an elusive element, with many different powers. You demonstrated one of these powers just a moment before."

"...When I killed the ape," I murmured. For just a moment, it seemed as if the water in the puddle turned blood red, but I dismissed this as a trick of the light.

"Yes. Wielders of this element can manipulate time in many ways, speeding it up or even slowing it to a near stop. True masters may be able to stop the world without hindrance to themselves. At this point, you will only be able to use your powers to the minimum extent possible. Be cautious; the effects will only last a few moments. It is fortunate that you managed to unlock your full potential, if only for a short time, to stop the ape."

"What did I _do _to him, though?" I asked.

"As you've seen, you can speed up the effects of time on a single object or entity, but this move will drain you considerably. Use it sparingly."

I nodded, accepting the advice. It'd probably be best if I was careful with this element anyway. "What about reversing time?"

"It is... almost impossible. Only a true master would be able to accomplish this, but this has not happened before." There was a slight pause, and the Chronicler added, "Some things, once you do them, can never be undone."

"I might make the wrong choice, though..." I sighed, but I received no response. "But mistakes are what makes you who you are."

A drop of water dripped from the ceiling and landed in the puddle. Ripples spread out over it, covering my face, and when the water stilled I was staring at my current self. How odd I looked compared to the other reflection; I was so much older and more scarred, and the coarse cloth that was always wrapped around my eyes (or lack of thereof) looked strange.

But that was who I was.

I rose again, closing my eyes to block the sight out, and instinctively stepped into the puddle. Sinuous tendrils of water rose to greet me, wrapping around me like a blanket and pulling me down into the darkness I knew so well.

"You will discover your powers soon..." the Chronicler said, and that was all I heard before the darkness blew out my consciousness like a candle's flame.

~~...~~

I felt as if I were falling, spiraling down through dark tunnels and shadowy chambers. There was nothing to do but let my detached spirit plummet down through the black abyss. I was not aware; there was only something like a dreamless sleep.

Down, down, down, I went, with no perception of time. Days, months, years might have passed without me knowing. But in reality, it was only a few seconds.

My soul finally hit the water with a terrific splash; that is to say, I regained consciousness. I shot up as soon as I did so, heart pounding like a drum. I was breathing heavily as if I had just awoken from a terrible nightmare—but that was no ordinary dream.

If it was true... Concentrating, I attempted to unlock my powers. They danced just out of my reach at first, but they finally relented. The world and I slowed to a crawl and the blue tint appeared again at the edges of my vision.

"She's... awake! She's... awake!" Rukas cried, likely directing this at the Guardians (wherever they were).

I allowed the power to fade and the world returned to normal speed. So it _wasn't _just my imagination. That... that had actually happened. But, whatever I had done, it left me drained now. I felt so fatigued that I could hardly move. Also, it was as if the echoes dragged themselves on tired feet, and some just keeled over halfway to me; I could not see as far as before.

Well, now my problem was figuring out where I was. Rukas was here, but his echoes were weak, as he was stepping on soft dirt that shifted under his weight and made it pretty hard for me to see.

I tsked and the weak outlines of trees came back to me. Rukas had left my range and the Temple was nowhere to be found. So... we were in a forest? But what...?

"Rukas?" I asked, reaching out my arm pleadingly. I felt indignity well up inside me at this helpless gesture, as it exposed me and showed the world what I truly was; a small, blind girl. But I needed help.

"Tempo!" Before I could even detect Rukas, he had taken my paw and was hugging me.

"Hey, Rukas," I said, trying to shove any weakness out of my voice. I needed to be strong, for Rukas. After what he had witnessed...

"Tempo, we thought you were—" Rukas choked on the word and a single shameless tear fell to the ground. "You stopped breathing after you did that... What _was _it, Tempo? What did you do?"

I shook my head in a vain attempt to clear it and then sighed. "How do I explain... My element is different from yours. It's... unique." I realized I didn't know _what _Rukas' element was, but I knew he certainly wasn't a time dragon.

"Well, what is it?" the agitated Rukas demanded.

"Yes, we'd all like to know, young one." It wasn't until Ignitus spoke that I realized the guardians had been standing nearby all along. His voice contained an underlying tone of concern.

"We have to keep moving," Cyril reminded everybody, looking around uneasily as if apes would be set upon them at any moment.

"Tempo, can you walk?" Ignitus asked.

"I think so." With Rukas' help, I managed to climb to my feet and take a few staggering steps forward. At first, I threatened to fall, but I soon gained my balance and could walk, if a little bit slowly. Rukas continued on by my side, occasionally glancing at me to make sure I didn't fall.

"So what was it?" he asked after a moment.

"Before I answer, I have a question of my own." I paused as if waiting for somebody to speak, but continued on when nobody did. "Does the name 'Chronicler' mean anything to any of you?"

I halted in my steps upon realizing every Guardian had turned sharply to face me and were exchanging glances, though Rukas only stared up at me in what I assumed was confusion.

"You know of him. Who is he?" I demanded after a period of silence.

"The Chronicler is considered by most—" Cyril began.

"—To be nothing more than myth, legend, simply a tale. They say he is an elusive dragon ages old who charts the past, present, and even the future, watching over everything that ever has been and ever will be," Volteer quickly interjected, receiving an annoyed glare from Cyril.

"But his existence was proven to be true by Spyro," Terrador finished.

"I've heard that name before..." I murmured. But where?

_Spyro, this way!_

The voice echoed in my head, rebounding off the walls of my mind before fading into silence. It was not a full memory, only a speaker who cried out behind a locked door that kept my remembrances away from me.

"How do you know of the Chronicler?" Ignitus asked as we resumed walking.

"After I did that to the ape and passed out, he came to me in my dreams and told me of my element... Time."

"_Time?" _Rukas exclaimed. "You mean you can manipulate time?"

"I've only been able to slow it a bit so far and do... that," I said vaguely, referring to the ape, "but I suppose I can."

There was a few minutes of blessed silence during which I had enough time to collect my thoughts and unscramble them. I realized suddenly I had no idea what was going on.

"Where are we going?" I asked, taking one careful step through dew-covered grass after another.

"Warfang, a city on the mainland," Ignitus answered from the front. "We'll be safe there... for now."

_For now. _His words echoed in my mind, and the meaning lying under them rang clear.


	4. A Family

The days passed like sand blowing in the air, seamlessly and quickly. I merely blinked and they were gone. The journey was peaceful; we didn't see a single wretched ape one time and nothing else attacked us. Nobody talked, so I was left to my own thoughts and ponderings.

On our third day of travelling, Warfang was in sight, or so the others said. I was glad that we were almost there; Rukas often became tired, so much of the journey was spent on foot. My feet ached terribly, but even when I felt as if I could not take another step after hours of arduous walking, I didn't complain. It was important that we got as far away as possible as quickly as possible; we could not rest except at night.

And night had fallen, bringing with it the cricket-songs that I so loved to listen to. Night was my favourite time of day. Sometimes, I could feel the earth pulsating beneath me, as if my echolocation stretched across the whole world and everything was coming back to me at once. Of course, that wasn't really true, but just the illusion left me in awe.

But tonight the echoes were short of will and did no such thing. The roaring fire that all of us were scattered around made enough noise to keep me in constant sight of those around me. Rukas was huddled into me, as if he were cold, though my face was burning in the heat of the flames.

"Why did the apes attack us?" Rukas murmured.

"I don't know why they targeted us," I replied under my breath. Furrowing my brow, I turned to the Guardians. "You all knew this was going to happen. Why didn't we leave earlier?"

Shifting as if uneasy, Ignitus replied, "The other Guardians and I were heading for Warfang when we found Rukas. We were too far from Warfang and had to return to the Temple. He was in no condition to travel."

Rukas turned his gaze to the ground and held it there. Just the memory seemed to leave him distraught. But what did Ignitus mean by "he was in no condition to travel"? Was he injured? What had happened to him?

"And after we found you," Ignitus said, "we had to wait even longer to leave."

Sighing, I turned away. The answer was true and it should have been satisfying, but it was not. I turned my head towards the horizon, where the city might have been.

_Maybe things will be better there, _I thought as I rested my head on my paws and prepared to sleep.

I knew that it wouldn't be.

I woke up in the middle of the night for an unknown reason. Raising my head, I listened, but even the crickets were silent. The fire had died down, too. Rukas, his breathing even, was sleeping near me; I could feel his warm breath on my arm.

I turned my head to the sky. Was it a starry night? I tried to remember the sight of the mysterious lights, but to my dismay, I was afforded nothing but the same terrible darkness that consumed me already. I wasn't sure how I knew it, but the stars had once been a source of comfort when I had nothing to seek solace in. They were cold to me now. There was nothing left to comfort me.

_What a lie that is. _I turned to Rukas, who still slept soundly. Was it only then that I realized he meant the world to me? No, I had known it before, but a part of me was afraid to think it; I was frightened to become to attached to something. But Rukas was already a part of me. That's how much I loved the quiet, young dragon.

I reached out a hesitant wing and placed it over Rukas. He was cold. And he would probably never know, but even such a simple gesture of affection as that was something I felt I had never done before, and it filled me with a warmth I never thought I could feel again.

I'd _always _have Rukas. That was enough for me.

~~...~~

The shadow of the great wall cooled me off as I waited for the shouting moles to open the gate before us. It was an unusually warm summer day, so this respite from the sun's heat was nice, but I couldn't wait to get into the city. Finally, the gates began to open. Sunlight poured through it and we, the Guardians, Rukas, and I, stepped forward.

The stone road was hot and almost burned my paws, but I hardly felt it, so in awe was I. I couldn't even _see _Warfang and I could tell it was a truly glorious place. The excitement that had been singing quietly only a moment before suddenly burst up and exploded into a golden song that rang louder than thunder in my head.

I don't believe I had been near that many people in my life. Echoes were coming back to me constantly, all from the thousands of footsteps and voices and people around me. I was almost overwhelmed by the dizzying clarity of my sight; it was like _real _sight that was black with grey outlines. Sure, there was no colour, but I could see the people moving and breathing around me.

I didn't have to worry about the details anyway; Rukas acted as my eyes and put his sight into words so I could see it just as he did. He explained the buildings around us first.

Many of them had domes on the top of them, but were otherwise square, though curved, tower-like structures were dotted here and there. The buildings were mostly made of yellow and grey stone, he said, with occasional splashes of blue. Intricate carvings in the stone were common, and so was the occasional statue. And there were curves and dips and platforms _everywhere—_but that I could tell, as we often walked up and down slopes, climbed stairs, and in general were rarely on flat ground.

Rukas didn't really describe the people around as, as there were just too many. He _did _describe the creature that was leading us, though. Rukas said the small creature that walked on two legs was called a mole. I figured out from listening to the mole and the Guardians' conversation as best as I could over the clamor that he was called Mason. Mason was leading us to where we would stay, a place that sort of resembled the old Temple.

I felt a little sadness at remembering that I would probably never see the Temple again. But the overwhelming exhilaration of being in the Great City of Warfang quickly blotted out the sorrow. I had never been to such a magnificent place as this and there was no reason to mope.

When I felt grass under my paws and we began to ascend a steep hill, Rukas, possibly still in awe of his surroundings, fell silent. Now that the loud city districts were behind us, my vision had dimmed as well, so I wasn't sure of the details of the building that lay at the top of the slope.

I stopped listening to the mole once we entered the building. _So this is where we're going to stay, _I thought. If I had spoken the words, I might have breathed them in wonder.

Though this "Temple" was in actuality very small compared to the old one (as Rukas said when he remembered for a moment that he was explaining the appearance to me), the inside was made in the Warfang style that made it seem huge on the inside. The entrance was a little cramped, but it opened up into a main room, like the old pool room (except much bigger). Stairs on both sides of the room led to unknown places, and a large double-door led to another outside entrance. So when you looked at it closely, it really wasn't like the Temple at all, but I still liked it.

"Hey..." Rukas said, curiously walking over to the left staircase. Lowering his voice and turning to me, he said, "Let's go upstairs, Tempo."

I glanced at the Guardians, but they didn't seem to notice and probably wouldn't care, so I followed Rukas up the tall staircase until we reached the second floor.

I tsked. We were in a hallway with doors on either side of it; though I couldn't see it, I felt the sun beating through a window at the far end.

Rukas did a quick search over the area. When he returned, he said, "Nothing up here. These are probably our rooms. Come on, I saw a door down there; maybe it goes outside."

I followed Rukas back downstairs and out the aforementioned door, past the Guardians who still were talking to the mole. I didn't catch what they were saying, as I was paying attention to Rukas.

"Wow, it's beautiful out here," Rukas said as he walked forward, brittle grass crunching under his paws.

I walked up beside him, wishing I could see too. "What does it look like?"

Rukas cleared his throat. "It's still fall... You know that, right?"

"Yes, you told me a few weeks ago," I said, though in truth I didn't really think about it.

Nodding, Rukas, continued. "We're in a sort of garden. There's a tree out here, but there are only a few yellow leaves clinging to the branches, and most of the flowers have wilted. This whole place is just a cliff overlooking the rest of Warfang, but the wall is higher than us. You can still see the people down in the districts nearest to us walking around. And the sky's really blue today, with only a few wisps of clouds. It's a nice day... the nicest I've ever seen, maybe."

I hungrily absorbed this information and managed to get a good picture in my mind. The colours were the same dull reds and greens as they always were, only heightened a little by recollecting the colours in my recent memories, but it was better than nothing.

I wanted so much to see the world again, to have that beautiful gift of sight in which I could look on the world's mysteries, but that time was past. I reached up a paw to my face and delicately touched the strip of cloth. I would never see again.

"You know, you remind me of my sister," Rukas murmured in a voice far away.

"What do you mean?" I asked, lowering my paw before he could notice.

"She was a lot like you... Older than me, and kind of quiet. She was really protective, too, sometimes so much that it got annoying. She loved me a lot... but she's gone now." He returned from wherever his mind had been wandering, and stated this in a plain and matter-of-fact tone.

Opening my mouth, I intended to ask what had happened to her, but I quickly thought better than that before the words escaped. Instead, I nearly whispered, "That's strange. Sometimes, I think of you as a brother..."

I was afraid of what he would think, afraid he wouldn't like it, but Rukas seemed surprised. "Really?" he asked, turning to me.

"Yeah, Rukas. You're like family to me." Relieved, I smiled.

Rukas looked at the ground. "Do you remember your family?"

"Not really," I said. Though I tried to force a memory, I could not, so I finally said what I had been thinking for a while. "I don't have one anymore."

"Me either," Rukas said quietly. There was a long silence. "I guess that kind of makes us a family... right?" He walked over to me, and, sitting down, leaned his head below my shoulder.

"Right," I said after a moment of silent surprise. His gesture had taken me off-guard; I was so unused to contact with others. But I smiled at him, and I'm sure if I could have seen him, he would have been smiling back.

~~...~~

"It's time to discuss your powers." Ignitus' voice was impassive, almost sounding as if we were having a normal conversation.

"There's nothing to _discuss," _I hissed. I didn't even want to think of it again, what it must have done to Rukas to see that...

"It's important that we know exactly what you did."

Rukas, uncomfortable, edged closer to me. I glanced at him, but sighing, I knew I had to relent. "Fine. I already told you what my element is; time. The Chronicler said I'm one of the only ones who have control over it, and right now I'm not able to use my powers that often. But at the moment, I can speed up time on one object, like I did to the ape, and slow it it down but not stop or reverse it. The Chronicler mentioned something about speeding up the world or slowing it down without slowing myself down, but I can't do that right now."

The Guardians nodded and exchanged glances, but I could tell they believed me—after all, there was no other explanation for what happened to the ape.

"Did the Chronicler say anything else?" Ignitus asked.

"He just told me about my element," I replied.

"Did he mention a dragon named Spyro?"

"No. Why does that name sound so familiar? I've never heard it, or at least I don't remember hearing it..." I turned to Rukas, but he didn't speak or move, only stood motionless like a statue.

"Spyro is a purple dragon. He, along with a dragonfly named Sparx and a dragoness called Cynder, went missing over a year ago." That was all Cyril said.

I shook my head. The names, save for Spyro, were unknown to me. "That doesn't ring a bell. I don't remember him, but I just feel like I've heard the name somewhere..." Sighing, I sat down. "I wish my memory would come back."

Rukas, his voice small, spoke up. "What if you don't want it to?"  
>"The memories are bad, but anything's better than this..."<p>

"Your memories are returning?" Ignitus asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," I muttered.

"You should tell them. It's better than just keeping it inside." Rukas spoke up again, but he still sounded timid.

So, after a pause of consideration, I did. I told them about the two memories; the dragon who I presumed to be my mother and the shattering window and the ape who had carved the hourglass into my arm—though I left out the last part of that memory.

"That's it," I said when I was finished. I was only met with silence, though, as if everybody was thinking. I waited for a moment, wishing for an explanation or _something, _but it never came. So, sighing, I said, "I'm... going to go to sleep now."

I backed away, but nobody stopped me, so I turned and headed up the stairs and into my room. It had been a long day. I needed to sleep.


	5. A Mystery

"Hey, Tempo?" Rukas walked up behind me and stalled for a moment, as if he wanted something.

"Yes?" I kept a sightless gaze trained on the horizon—or, more precisely, the far wall that was in front of it.

"I had an idea. I thought maybe if I asked you a lot of questions, you'd remember something," Rukas said happily, as if he had stumbled across the greatest idea ever thought of.

"Do you think that will work?" Raising an eyeridge, I turned towards Rukas.

"Worth a shot." Rukas shrugged.

"Okay," I agreed. Perhaps it _would _help.

"So, how old are you?"

I leaned against the tree behind me and sighed, thinking. "I don't know. How old are you?"

"Eight. You're a lot taller than me, so..." Rukas walked over to me and compared heights for a moment. "I only come up to below your shoulder, so I think that'd make you thirteen."

I nodded, suddenly overtaken by a smile that I allowed to exist for a brief moment. No longer was I a faceless dragon; I had an age. How accurate it was, I didn't know, but I also didn't care.

Snapping me out of my reverie, Rukas asked, "Where were you born?"

I slumped against the tree again, having straightened when Rukas walked over. "I don't know," I said, repeating the phrase.

"Do you have any siblings?"

"I don't know."

Rukas groaned. "Come, on, Tempo, work with me!"

"I _don't _know," I protested. "Rukas, how is this helping?"

Rukas shook his head as if my question was a silly one and sighed irately. He thought for a moment before coming up with a question. "What caused your amnesia?"

I didn't answer, but it wasn't because I was thinking—I had been thrown into a trance. A part of me knew what was coming and braced itself just before the bright light consumed me.

When it faded, there wasn't anything but the darkness. _What happened? _I thought. _Am I back in my body? _

No... With a jolt, I realized that I was falling. This must have been a memory from after I was blinded. My mind was foggy and as dark as my sight in this memory, but after a few seconds it snapped back to reality. I opened my mouth and began to scream a bloodcurdling shriek that made my blood run cold as my legs tried to kick the air.

I was trying to snap my wings out and flip myself over, but I was never a strong dragon, I knew. Suspended in the air was where I remained, unable to do anything but scream and know it would do no good.

My heart was pounding so loudly that I thought the whole world could hear it. The wind tore unmercifully at my body, tossing me which way and that as I went faster and faster. Finally, some instinct told me to hold my breath, so I gasped in as much air as I could.

Numbness suddenly ran over my body, followed by a searing, tingling pain on my backside. Twice I tried to gulp in air but no air met my lungs, only a freezing coldness. My legs did not seem to work, held back by something, so my attempts at kicking did nothing and I continued to feel the rush of water as I descended at a rapid rate.

Finally, I collided. There was no pain; I was swallowed by unconsciousness before it could take root. My mind, trapped in this body from a memory I could not control, slipped away too. But before I could completely disappear, the white light blinded me and brought me back to the present.

I found myself on the ground, coughing and gasping as if water filled my lungs, though nothing came out. Too weak to pick myself up, I merely tried to stop coughing long enough to get a full gasp of air in.

Rukas' words echoed in my head. _What caused your amnesia? _And, too, there echoed all those feelings that had been in the memory, both physical and mental. Fear, pain, blankness, the rush of what must have been water. _What caused your amnesia?_

"Tempo!" Only then did I feel the pain in my arm; once again his claws were digging into it. This seemed to be his general response to my memories.

Still shaking violently as the water's coldness wrapped around me, I managed to say, "Rukas?" Rukas nodded and let go, whimpering. "I think it worked."

~~...~~

"...And then I hit the bottom, I think. That's it." Rukas and I stood before the Guardians again as I explained my most recent memory. I'd decided to tell them whenever a memory returned from then on, instead of not telling anyone except Rukas. It would be better that way.

"This is peculiar indeed," Ignitus said, and the other Guardians murmured in agreement.

"It's evident that you fell from a great height," Volteer said. "It's likely that you hit your head on the riverbed and the subsequent trauma induced your amnesia. Do you remember what caused your fall?"

"No. I don't know... I just remember the fall itself, but I think something pushed me or caused me to stumble off a ledge." I shook my head as if it would bring all my memories back, sighing. Trying to remember just gave me a headache. "How did you find me?"

"We were leaving for Warfang, as you know, when we found you drifting in the Silver River," Ignitus replied.

"That makes sense," I said, sighing again. "Falling into that river probably saved my life. But it still doesn't make sense. Who would try to kill me?"

As the vibrations and my sight began to fade, all I saw were the Guardians looking down at me.

~~...~~

Winter came in a flurry of white snow that blanketed the ground and the roofs with its white powder. The residents of Warfang, unused to such weather in the usually-hot environment, knew that winter was upon them. Oh, it had been winter before, but you don't really know it until the first snowfall.

The world slowed to a crawl with its arrival and a hush covered the bustling city. The streets, a little less crowded now, became quiet and a feeling of peace descended over everyone. Winter was a time of rest, a time when people could just relax.

There would be so much to do come spring; there would be crops to be planted and goods to be made and children would return to school as the city started up again. But, just for the moment, you didn't need to worry about anything.

And neither did I. I loved the winter, adored the snow, refreshingly cold and soft under my paws. Although the city was exciting when it was alive, the peace and quiet was a nice change. The constant feeling of being rushed disappeared. But there was also a sort of desolation, a loneliness, that was within the season itself and within me as well. It was the howl of the biting winds through an empty cave, trying to get warm but never finding solace. A part of me hated it.

But the nightmares were the worst part. The memories I had received so far kept playing out again and again in my dreams, but they were twisted and inspired the type of terror that would keep you frightened even after it was over. I became afraid to sleep, but I could not stay awake. The nights became fretful, and I told no one (not even Rukas) of the nightmares that plagued me.

And then I began to sleepwalk. I woke up, and most often I was not where I had originally fallen asleep. At first, I'd wake up and be standing near the door. Then, I'd find myself downstairs, collapsed in the middle of the room, and as the days passed, I'd eventually awaken from my slumber leaning against the great tree in the garden. Still, I told nobody of my plight.

I'm not sure if that was a mistake I shouldn't have made. Because one day, I left Warfang completely.

When I woke up, my nose was buried in a drift of snow and I was so cold that I couldn't feel my body. It took me a few moments to realize that I was most certainly _not _in my room! Jumping to my feet, I sneezed and tried to gain a footing in the snow.

I opened my mouth, intending to call out, but I snapped it shut with a click. Who knows what was nearby? I could get killed out here if something hostile found me! But still, I needed to know where I was and what was near me so I could find my way back to Warfang, or at least to shelter, before I froze to death.

"Hello?" I asked in a small voice. The echoes that came back revealed trees. Inhaling, I cried, "HELLO!"

More trees came this time, but not a wall nor anything else. I quickly ascertained that I was in the forest a few miles from Warfang, but the forest surrounded the city, which meant that I had no idea what way to go. Sense of direction was not a gift that had been bestowed upon me, so I was completely lost.

As I spent the next few seconds worrying, I just barely noticed something, something that wasn't a tree but was so faint that I couldn't tell _what _it was. I ignored it, though, having more important things to focus on.

_How did I end up here? _I wondered to myself as I tried to decide what direction to go. The guards would never have let me out, so I must have flown. But my sleepwalking had never carried me so far, and the worst predicament I found myself in was waking up near the edge of the garden and almost falling off the cliff. It wasn't terribly high and I probably would have escaped unharmed. But this, this was dangerous. I could get lost or freeze to death or get attacked by apes...

The last thought in particular made me shudder, and not out of coldness. They'd take me back to that person called Malefor for certain and kill me. _Maybe it'd be better that way... _I thought, but immediately reprimanded myself. _No! I don't know what happened, but I've done nothing wrong._

Shivering, I prayed to the ancestors that I was going in the right direction and began my trek forward. I still thought about this strange predicament as I walked. Why would I have come here, of all places in the world? I thought about going back and looking around, but I knew I couldn't. I needed to get back home. Besides, if the Guardians or Rukas found that I wasn't in my room come dawn (which I felt was fast approaching), my cover would be blown!

Once while I was thinking, I ran smack into a tree a pile of snow fell off the branches and buried me. Although it probably looked quite comical, I didn't find it funny at all. Shaking my head and pushing the snow out of my way, I managed to realign myself and continue forward. The rest of the journey went unhindered.

Occasionally, I'd call out to see if there was anything but trees around. Finally, one of my cries of, "Hello?" yielded something. A large structure; Warfang's wall! Sighing with relief, I ran forward and took to the air. I knew the way now.

I dropped down near the entrance to home and took a few cautious steps forward. Not even the earliest risers were awake yet and the city was silent.

_Please don't let them be awake, _I thought, trying to be as quiet as possible as I slipped inside. But it was no use, for my fears had been realized—one of them was awake. I couldn't tell who, but apparently he could see me.

"Tempo? Where have you been?" Terrador.

_Oh, no... _I thought, trying quickly to come up with an answer. There was nothing to say, no answer I could provide.

"Uh..." I shivered, still freezing, and made a fruitless last-ditch effort to come up with a reply. "Nowhere?"

I couldn't see Terrador at all, but I could feel his stern look.

"It was worth a shot, right?" I mumbled.

~~...~~

The little adventure into the forest caused me to catch a serious cold that left me sick for weeks. I wasn't even allowed to leave my room, but I was so weak that I probably couldn't have anyway. This was all extremely hindering, as a part of me realized that there was something out in that forest, something that I felt I _needed _to find. I would have left immediately if I hadn't been so sick and the desire to run nearly drove me crazy. The sleepwalking had stopped, at least.

Eventually, I did recover, though I was still weak. The Guardians warned me to stay away from the forest, but for once, I couldn't listen to them. Whatever was out there, it was imperative that I found it. I didn't know why; it just was. I had to know what had led me there.

Dusk descended quickly and early, shrouding the land that was already dark to me in shadow. What I was doing was risky; everybody was awake. But I didn't even care if I was caught anymore. Opening my window and seamlessly pushing myself into the air, I threw caution to the wind. Someone might have looked up and seen my shadow glide over the walls, but I didn't care; they would never know.

The air wasn't as bitterly cold as it usually was and today's snowfall was light and spread thinly over the ground. The only thing I had to worry about was remembering the way back and not staying too long. Though I didn't particularly care if I was caught, I still didn't _want _to be caught. Besides, I was still weak and exposed to the elements, and getting sick again was the last thing I needed.

Something, though I wasn't sure what, told me I was where I had woken up previously. Landing, I yelled, "HELLO!"

Yes, there was something here, something that wasn't as tall as the trees, but so much thicker. Heart pounding, I dashed forward. The crunch of snow under my paws kept my sight intact as I ran on for the next minute or so. But then I tripped, seemingly on nothing, and fell forward. The suddenness of this left me shocked for a few seconds as I lay on the ground. But I managed to shake off my surprise and, shaking myself off, I yelled out again to get a good bearing of where I was.

I had nearly run past my destination, so I suppose it was a good thing I had fallen. Turning, I quickly assessed the area.

A fence, decrepit and broken, surrounded the lot. The gate had been torn off its hinges and sat a few feet away from its original home, moss covering it and ferns sprouting through the gaps. That was what I had tripped on. Within the fence was a house; it could either be considered a small house or a large cottage. Though this detail was a bit fuzzier, it seemed as if the whole place was overgrown, what seemed to be tall grass sprouting up everywhere. Finally, there was a great tree, but it was drooping and dead.

Cautiously, I took a few steps forward, walking through the hole where the gate had once been. The plants and grass brushed against my ankles and got tangled up in them. A few times, I felt as if something alive was holding me back, but I shook that off just as quickly as I did the grass.

_The Chronicler told me that it was possible to reverse time... _I thought as I walked slowly over to the tree. A wave of determination hit me and I placed a paw on the trunk. The bark was far from smooth; it was gnarly and bumpy and very old.

I concentrated as hard as I could, but nothing happened, so I thought of a live tree waving in the breeze. The image was a slight, blurry memory, but I thought with all my might about turning the dead tree into the live one.

My lungs began to burn, and I released the breath I had been holding. It was no use, and now I only felt depleted.

_Well, the Chronicler did say that no dragons with the element of time has been able to reverse it, and I haven't even begun to use it yet, _I thought to myself. It would be silly to think that I, a young dragon, would be able to accomplish it. I turned away and headed towards the house.

It might have been my imagination, but as my paw slipped off the tree, the bark seemed to get ever-so-smoother.

_This place is so strange, _I thought to myself, keeping all my senses on edge. An eerie silence wrapped itself around this place. Not even the last goodnight-song of the birds resounded through the forest, though it had to be admitted that many birds had flown farther south, disturbed by this unusual weather. Either way, it was still dead silent, as if the whole forest was holding its breath.

Deep down, too, I felt a strange sense of familiarity, an odd feeling that I had been here before. I just couldn't quite put my claw on _when. _

As I drew nearer and nearer to the house, clicking my tongue every few seconds so I wouldn't be left in the darkness, more details emerged and I realized it was not in peak condition. For starters, one of the windows had been shattered and the roof had caved in. The open door was hanging askew on its frame, allowing all manner of creatures to enter and exit at will—if there was even any life here other than plants, that is!

Alert, I approached the building and walked up to the door. I touched it lightly to push it out of the way and jumped back when it fell off its hinges and landed on the floor with a bang. Releasing a breath to calm myself, I managed to stop shaking and walked a few paces forward, stepping over the door.

I took slow steps, trying to avoid stepping on any glass as I made my way through the house. I wasn't sure what I was looking for here.

"Ouch!" I had kicked a large rock that was laying in the middle of the room. Curious, I ignored the pain and picked it up. It was very heavy, large, and pebble-smooth.

Something came over me then as I held the rock. It hit the ground with a thump as I dropped it and stepped backwards. I realized where I was right then, why this place was so familiar.

I remembered.


	6. An Exploration of Warfang

I found myself in a room. No... a cottage, the one I had been standing in before. My vision slowly adjusted, and I managed to make out two dragons before me. They were too blurry to have any distinguishable features.

"Mother, we have to go, now," I found myself saying. My voice was distant but urgent.

"No, Tempo, sleep," the female dragon—my mother—said. Her voice was even more far-away than mine.

"You can tell us everything that happened tomorrow," a male dragon, who I presumed to be my father, said. The memory faded out at his words, but I was not returned to my body.

After a few moment, my vision returned. It flickered and wavered dangerously, as if I were tired, but I remained awake. Before me was Mother.

"Tempo. Tempo! Get up, quickly!" This was sounding familiar... My first memory.

Sure enough, the crash and the sound of broken glass skittering over the wooden board floor reached my ears and my mother repeated her next line. I climbed out of the bed and onto my feet, but the vision did not end as it should have.

Mother was staring out the window as I looked around, trying to find Father to no avail. She suddenly turned and said in a hushed whisper, "Tempo, come here."

I walked over to her, and she swiftly opened the door of a ground-floor cupboard and gently pushed me inside. Frightened, I stared up at here.

"Stay there until I come and get you. Don't make a sound," she said. Her voice was almost cheerful, but I could hear the fear behind it, as well as the stern tone. The doors closed before I could say anything, leaving only a silver of light that cut across my face.

It didn't take me long to realize what was happening and what she was going to do; I was young then, but not naïve. I wanted to go out and help her, but I was too frightened to do anything. I only pressed against the back of the cupboard and suppressed a whimper.

The memory continued on like that for a few minutes. I listened in apprehension to the dead silence, feeling all the time like I could almost, but not quite, hear something outside.

The cupboard doors were suddenly thrown open and I nearly screamed, only relaxing when I saw it was my father. I tensed again when I saw the look on his face; it's the type of look you should never see, one of raw terror, the kind of look you get when you know you're going to die. It made my blood run colder than ice.

"Get out of there! Hurry!" His voice was overflowing with wild fear.

Scrambling to my feet, I hastily followed his order. When I was out, he pushed me towards the door. Stumbling, I headed towards it.

"Run, Tempo!" Father cried. "Run as fast as you can, and never stop!"

I didn't have to be told twice; nothing mattered to me anymore but the command in those words. _Run. _I would probably never see him again, didn't know what would happen to me alone in the forest, had little idea of where Mother was. I didn't think about that, though, because I was already halfway across the yard and running was the only thing on my mind.

I leapt over the fence in a deer-like fashion, streaking over the ground, faster and faster until I was sprinting and I had never run this quickly in my life. But my small legs could only carry me so quickly; though it seemed to me I was an arrow, in reality I wasn't fast enough.

Footsteps pounding the ground behind me were the only thing signifying another presence. I thought perhaps it was Father, but a part of me knew that it wasn't. I didn't dare to look back, so I just ran. But I tripped. I flew through the air and hit the ground so hard that the wind was knocked out of me. Before I could even think of getting to my feet, I looked back.

Flames were beginning to consume my home and thick, black, choking smoke rose out of it. It surrounded the house and wrapped it in a suffocating blanket. I realized with a jolt that I had not gone as far as I thought I had... In fact, I was still quite close to the house. But I was too dizzy from that fall to even think about standing up and pushing on. I continued to stare dazedly at the smoke near me, and as I did, dark silhouettes began to emerge from them.

_Apes._

And then the bright light consumed me, blotting out the flames and smoke and my terrible fate that was just around the corner. I was returned to myself, to the dragon that lay shivering in the middle of what had once been her home before it had been taken away from her.

I made no move to stand, just like in the memory. I thought it over again, and I understood. But one thing I didn't know... What happened to me after the apes did that? Shuddering, I climbed to my feet and backed away.

"Tempo? Are you alright?" I jumped; I had been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't know Ignitus was standing behind me.

"Y-yeah." I shivered again. "I'm fine. C-can we go back to Warfang now?" I knew I was in for it, but it was better than freezing to death. I could explain later.

~~...~~

"You're grounded."

It didn't take me long to learn what "it" was.

"I am?" I managed to say after a few seconds. It was all I could come up with—I was nothing short of dumbfounded.

Ignitus, who was standing in the doorway, nodded. "You are. You knew you weren't supposed to go out there and you should have asked for help instead." As if expecting me to say something else, he waited a few moments, then walked away.

It took a couple minutes for me to figure out that I had just been punished. I burst into laughter at the realization, and continued laughing until Rukas came into the room and asked me what in the world was the matter.

"I'm grounded," I managed to gasp out through my laughter.

"What's so funny about that?"

"I don't know." I sat up straight and smiled. "I don't know, really."

Rukas stared at me with a bewildered look on his face. "Tempo, are you sick?" he asked after a long pause.

"No, Rukas, I'm not sick." I smiled more widely.

I had no idea why this made me so happy, but I think it was then I realized that I had a family. The numb desolation that had pervaded throughout my life might finally go away; there was a chance that all the bad things that had happened to me might just disappear. That was enough.

~~...~~

The next week of my punishment was very dull. I was confined to home and the grounds around it. Because of all the excitement that had happened since my arrival, I hadn't the time to explore the city, and I wanted to more than ever then.

Rukas himself was technically grounded. Being that he was only eight and didn't know how to defend himself should something happen (and in a big city such as Warfang, _anything _could happen), he needed me to protect him if he were to go into the city. I also needed him, for he was like my eyes, and he painted a picture of the landscape for me. So we waited together.

Finally, the week was up and we were set loose. There were boundaries set; though we had free reign of the city, we were not under any circumstances to leave it. Not that I minded. I would not want or need to leave again, and it was safer inside.

"Come on, Tempo!" Rukas yelled, dashing ahead of me. I gaily followed him as we ran down the path, barely able to contain my excitement at seeing what the city was like. From what Rukas had told me, it was a pretty big city, so big that its diameter was miles long.

Once we reached the bottom of the hill, Rukas began to speak. "There's a road now. Can you feel it?"

I nodded. The stone could be easily felt under my feet; it was colder than it had been when I'd first arrived, of course. It was still winter, after all, but the roads were always kept clear.

"Okay. The Guardians told me that there were five districts: Warfang Market in the middle, Warfang North and South, where people live—we're coming into South now—the school district in east, and the general district in the west," Rukas explained.

"General?" I asked.

"Yeah, just a district for a lot of different things that don't go anywhere else," Rukas replied, glancing around. After a few moments, he said, "There's a lot of houses here, all made of the usual yellow stone, but nobody's here right now. Everyone is probably at work or school or wherever they go at this time of day. The houses in this district are smaller and closer together. The north side of Warfang has all of the big houses."

We walked on in silence for about fifteen minutes. Rukas was right; the houses of varying sizes and shape were close together, but it didn't seem to be uncomfortably so. Suddenly, as we walked along, a shadow was cast over us.

"We're about to cross into the market district. There's an archway above us. It splits at points, because it's the border for all the districts, and it keeps going until it hits the wall. There's some stairs here. You can walk on the wall if you don't want to cut through the city. And I can see some guards on it now, two moles. They probably use it so they can see better.

"There's two little waterfalls here—not real ones, of course, they just drain into a tray. This district is big and circular, and you can see all of the entrances into each section of the city now. It's like a hub. There's stalls and shops everywhere, and a lot of people are walking around; dragons and moles of all ages. A whole crowd's worth," Rukas explained.

I managed to capture the image in my mind. The numerous vibrations coming back to me from people's voices and footsteps, coupled with Rukas' description, made it so that I could almost see the scene. The movements were slow and jerky, and the colours were dull.

But then, for just a split second, I saw it. It was like I had taken the cloth off and found that I could see. The dragons and moles in my picture were suddenly breathing and alive, walking quickly as they went about their day. The water from the artificial waterfalls splashed into the tray. I could see every colour vividly. The moles were brown, the dragons were their diverse range of colours. I could even see the big green eyes of a very young dragon as she walked past. And the sky was blue, so blue.

But just as soon as it had appeared, it was gone. The beautiful hues faded to ugly black and the peoples' movements were spastic again. The colours still lingered in my mind, but I couldn't quite grasp them. It was as if they were taunting me, dangling just out of reach.

"Come on, Tempo, let's go into the school district. We're getting some weird looks," Rukas said. I nodded and followed him as he turned eastward and walked forward.

"There's three buildings here. The one on the right is one story high. The one in the front and on the left are two. I think the little one is for the youngest kids. The road leads inside, and branches out towards all three buildings. There's a fence here... we shouldn't go inside. The area outside the fence is probably for midday break," Rukas said.

"Midday break?" I echoed.

"Yeah. Haven't you ever been to school before?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so. I lived out in the woods... so I guess I just learned everything at home."

"Wow," Rukas said, leaning casually against the fence. "You missed out on a lot."

"Why, where did you live?" I inquired.

"Oh, just some town," Rukas mumbled. Deciding that he didn't want to talk about it, I did not press. "Come on, Tempo. It's nearly twelve, and that's usually when break comes. We better get out of here before somebody sees us and drags us in there." Rukas laughed somewhat forcibly and led me away.

Surprised, I asked, "It's only twelve?" as I quickly walked after him. We had already been through half of the city, and it had only been an hour.

"Yup. This city is big, and there's a lot to see, but you can make your way through it quickly if you try," Rukas replied as we walked through the archway into the market again. Things were beginning to slow down, despite our short absence. There were only about ten people left, not counting the stall vendors.

"Where should we go now, north or west?" Rukas asked me.

"How about north?"

"Alright, onwards to Warfang North!" Rukas exclaimed. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice him as he tramped towards the next arch.

There was a short incline here, but not too steep. Once we reached the top, we stood in silence for a few moments. I waited for Rukas to speak, and finally, he did.

"Wow," was all he breathed.

"What?" I asked.

"It's beautiful up here. Okay... There's a river here, not frozen, probably part of an irritation system. Also—"

"Wait, a what?" I interrupted, giving Rukas a strange look.

"An irritation system. It carries water to places or something."

"Rukas..." I shook my head. "I think you mean _irrigation_."

"Whatever. Anyway, there's a bunch of houses on both sides, all facing the river, and they're not as packed together as they are in the other district. The road leads up to the river's bridge and doesn't continue on to the other side. Snow is everywhere here, but—"

"He-ey!" A shout interrupted Rukas before he could finish his sentence. He glanced at me and walked forward.

"There's a guard on the wall," he said to me as I walked up beside him. "You can tell because all the guards wear armor with some sort of black and red bird on the chest. He's a fire dragon the colour of hot embers, his horns and underbelly are yellow, and his eyes are orange. He looks like he's really young, but still an adult."

The guard waited for Rukas to finish before speaking. "Shouldn't you children be in school? And why does that girl have a cloth tied around her head?"

"I'm blind," I said bluntly.

"Oh..." he said, sounding uncomfortable. "Well, what about the boy?"

"My seeing eye guide," I said calmly. It wasn't _exactly_ a lie.

"Hmm. Carry on, then, but stay out of trouble! And I'll be checking up with the school on this." With that, the guard continued his patrol until he was out of sight.

"Why'd you tell him that?" Rukas asked, turning to me.

"Well, you are, aren't you?" I asked quickly, nervous.

"I guess I am. Or if I wasn't before, I am now." Rukas grinned.

~~...~~

"Ignitus is coming in." Rukas was really living up to his official title of "Tempo's seeing eye guide".

"Rukas. I can echolocate; I know. Just describe the colours and such." Unfortunately, he was doing it wrong.

"Okay, well, he's orange and—"

"You described him when we walked by him earlier!" I exclaimed, exasperated. "I'm sorry, Ignitus. What is it that you need?" I asked, quickly changing the subject in order to avoid an argument.

"I met a guard earlier today. I believe you had a run-in with him?" Ignitus asked.

"We—we weren't doing anything bad!" Rukas exclaimed, unnecessarily defensive.

"I know; the guard told me everything that happened. What I came here to tell you is that I believe you should attend school."

_"What?_ But why?" Rukas complained.

"And what about me? I'm not exactly in the position to read a textbook." I pointed to the cloth that covered my eyes, or lack thereof.

"Because, Rukas, it is required that children go to school if there is one available. Tempo, there is a class held for blind children—there are two others in the city. Winter break starts in two days, so there's no use in sending you now. But when spring comes, you must go." With that, Ignitus retreated a quickly as he had come in.

"Aw, I don't wanna go to school," Rukas whined.

"You told me earlier that I was missing out on a lot by not going to school. I thought that it was fun," I said, perplexed.

"This is different," Rukas said, shaking his head. "Ugh, there's so much drama happening. I wish everything would just quiet down and that we could go on without being bothered."

"It wouldn't be a very interesting world is nothing ever happened in it," I noted.

Rukas just hmphed and walked stormily out of the room. I sighed. So much for peace and quiet. Now that we would have to go to school, it didn't seem like there would be any peace left.

I walked over to the window and leaned my head against the pane. The glass was so cold that my forehead burned at the touch, but I didn't mind and barely seemed to feel it.

Where was my life going? I had powers that still sat dormant inside me, memories yet to be remembered, things I still needed to learn. It seemed as if every day that passed, I took an unexpected turn down the metaphorical road and ended up more confused than when I started walking down it.

_And what of my parents?_ I thought to myself, recalling the blurry messes in my memory. Could they even be alive? Somewhere out there, were they waiting for me, wondering where I was; if _I_ was alive?

No, I thought. No. They were dead. The apes had set the house on fire, and if that hadn't killed my parents, the brutes would have.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, there was a tiny sliver of doubt.


	7. A New Friend

Time flew so quickly in the winter, carried by the freezing winds that guided it onward. I got up early in the mornings to stand in the garden and feel the days brush over my face as they sped past. Rukas, who wasn't such an early riser, didn't seem to notice the days that slipped away like sand through his paws. Nor, in fact, did anyone else. Perhaps it was my heightened awareness to the passing of time that caused me to notice how quickly it flowed.

Spring announced itself with the first warm breeze since fall and a flood of water as the snow began to melt under the awakening sun. He had only radiated a coldness all winter and now it was time for him to warm the earth again. Technically, winter hadn't even ended yet (it was only the first month of the year), but it might as well have then.

Rukas began to count the days to school starting. "Twenty-seven days," he'd announce as we walked down the stairs, and his voice grew even more gloomy and dejected as the days passed.

He wasn't, obviously, counting out of excitement. Rukas said to me that he was counting down the days left until prison.

"It can't be that bad," I said one day, after Rukas quite stormily indicated that there were less than two weeks left.

"What do you know? You were homeschooled," Rukas said indignantly. Noticing my hurt look, he quickly added, "It's not fun. Last time I went to school, all the kids made fun of me and the teacher was mean. It'll probably be the same here."

With a curious look on my face, I pointed out, "You said I was missing out before, didn't you?"

"Well, I had _one _friend, and I guess he made it worth going, but it's still no fun getting picked on by everybody."

We reached the bottom of the stairs, but Rukas lingered by the steps for a moment, as if deep in thought. Finally, he shook his head and followed.

Speaking of other children, I'd seen many throughout the months. They didn't notice me, though, as they were often occupied. Some, especially the older ones, banded together into small groups and simply walked about. They talked and laughed as if they were dear friends. Others, often accompanied by other children, ran throughout the streets or played in the snow. Occasionally, a mother would yell at one to get out of the tree and come inside now, yes, right now, or a stallkeeper would chase them away, but otherwise nothing seemed to disturb the children.

A part of me, deep inside, longed to be with the others my age, have friends to talk to and spend time with. But another part of me feared them, wondered if anyone would _want_ to be my friend. I'd been lucky with Rukas; who else in the world could possibly like a strange blind girl from the forest?

And then, a very small part of me spoke up. It didn't care what the others thought, and perhaps it was right. Why should I worry about whether or not they liked me? I had Rukas, and he was all I needed.

I didn't know how to feel, really, and I supposed it didn't matter. Whatever I thought, I'd have to go to school. They might hate me, ignore me, or like me, and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

_Cheer up, _I thought to myself. _You're becoming just like Rukas. School is something to look forward to, not be frightened of. Just wait and see what happens; maybe it'll be wonderful._

I straightened and tried to look more visibly bright as I walked through the streets of Warfang. Rukas was off in the garden and didn't want to come on our daily walk, so I had decided to go myself.

The city livened up quite a bit when the cool weather set in. It wasn't quite as active as it had been when I arrived... When was that? It must have been four or five months ago. And they'd all flown by so quickly!

I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I didn't notice that there was a person in front of me, despite the fact that she was very clear in my vision as a result of all the noise around me. I ran right into her and we both stumbled back with a cry of "Ow!" Despite the fact that we were in the crowded market, nobody seemed to see us.

"Oh, sorry, um, ma'am... sir..." the dragon before me stuttered. She stood about my height and her voice rang clear.

"Tempo. Sorry, I didn't notice you," I mumbled, embarrassed.

"Tempo," the girl said, sounding relieved. "I'm Cisily. And it's my fault; I was standing in the middle of the road. I can't find my mom and I don't want to bump into anyone."

Confused, I tilted my head. The market wasn't even that crowded today, so why would she be afraid of running into anybody? Cisily didn't seem to notice my gesture, though, and went on.

"I think I hear Mom coming"—sure enough, I could hear somebody yelling "Sis! Cisily!" nearby—"so I better get going. Nice meeting you, Tempo!" With that, Cisily headed slowly and carefully towards the sound of the voice. As she disappeared into the close-knit crowd of indiscernible individuals, I heard her yelp of "Sorry!" and then she was gone.

Perplexed, I continued on towards Warfang West and wandered about alleys between the numerous towers there. That girl was so... strange, and not in a way that decreased from her personality (which I found rather endearing; she was so kind), but...

_Tempo, there is a class held for blind children—there are two others in the city. _Ignitus' words echoed in my head. Could that have been one of them? It was unlikely... What are the odds of finding one blind girl in a city of hundreds, even thousands of people?

_No, it couldn't have been her, _I thought after I wandered back into the market. _It's impossible. There's a reason for her strange behaviour, I'm sure. _

Glancing at the sun, I realized with a jolt what time it was: almost two in the afternoon! I had only meant to take an hour-long walk and it had nearly taken two hours. Quickly gathering my scattered thoughts up, I headed for home and put Cisily out of my mind.

~~...~~

Finally, the time came when there was only a single day left until the start of the month and school. Rukas spent the whole of that day in his room, claiming he was sicker than the disease-plagued race of dogs and he didn't think he'd be able to go to school tomorrow.

"You seem fine," I commented as I walked into his room at midday to check on him.

"Oh, but it feels cold, and my stomach hurts _so_ much," Rukas, collapsed on the floor, whined.

"Earlier you said you had a headache and it was too hot," I said skeptically.

Rukas didn't answer, only continued to lay on the floor and carry on until _I _had a headache and had to leave him there. Of course, the Guardians weren't fooled, and Rukas might as well have just come out of his room. The next day, he was standing stormily beside me in the hallway at 6:30 in the morning, grumbling quietly about how he couldn't believe it hadn't worked.

"Why do we have to get up so early, anyway?" he complained. "I don't think the sun's even up yet!"

"School begins at seven-thirty," Ignitus replied. Turning to me, he said, "Tempo, remember, you're responsible for Rukas. Make sure he gets to school and into his class safely. There will be a teacher at the gate who will tell you where to go."

I nodded sharply. Rukas could probably get there on his own, and indeed he grumbled that he didn't need help, but I had to make sure he didn't get lost.

"Make sure not to disrespect the teachers," Terrador warned, "and come back here as soon as school is let out."

I nodded again and, motioning for Rukas to follow, headed out the door. "Come on, Rukas, race you there!" I called when we were outside in an attempt to cheer him up.

Rukas was still sulky, but he was never one to pass down a race. Allowing himself to laugh, he bounded ahead of me. I caught up easily and broke into laughter too.

I allowed my secret worries to be carried away in the breeze that, with the first official day of spring starting, had warmed considerably. No matter what school might bring, this was now. Someday, it would fade from my mind and drift away with other forgotten memories, but at the moment... it was right in my grasp. I held on as tightly as I could.

Rukas and I streaked through the streets of Warfang, past other kids in the district who had just begun to emerge. Some walked sedately onwards while others skipped ahead, happy for school to be starting, yet a few stalled and lingered at their house, calling back through the door, "Dad, wait! I, uh, forgot something!"

It was like Rukas and I were the charging leaders of an army and behind us marched a crooked procession of soldiers. We soon lost them in the battlefield, though; that is, we outran them by the time we reached the market.

Here is where we slowed to a walk, out of breath and laughing. Sometimes (I thought as we halted completely under the cool shade of the archway) I felt as if the people in the market were just as blind as I was. They never seemed to pay any attention to Rukas or me at all, continuing on as if we weren't even there.

"Come on, Rukas," I said after recomposing myself, "we better hurry before everyone else arrives."

I could feel Rukas' demeanour shift back to the stormy mood, but with a sigh, he relented. "Alright."

We continued on in silence until the stone path turned to dirt with small grass shoots breaching the top of it. This place didn't even seem like a part of the city, with all its smooth stone streets and tall, magnificent buildings and the bustling people who lived in them. Here, there was only a field stretching from wall to wall and the three buildings that were in it. Even if it was the smallest district in the whole city and felt a little boxed in, too close to the walls that separated the districts, the clamour from them didn't seem to reach this place.

I sighed, though not unhappily, as we continued to cross the field. Rukas spoke up to say it would only take five minutes to get to the fence, and it might take another few if we kept walking to the main wall, as we were situated on the edge of the city. And, Rukas said, horizontally, the area might take about ten minutes to get from one side to the other.

Rukas remained silent for the next while, and I was left to my thoughts. The same questions I had asked earlier rang in my head, over and over again until they didn't sound like words at all, merely panicked sounds.

I forced my heart which had begun to race to slow down and tried to stand taller. Rukas was probably in a worse condition than I was. I could not be frightened; I needed to remain strong for him. If I panicked, he would too. There was _nothing _to be scared of.

"We're nearly there," Rukas said. "There's already a few others in the yard, so I guess school hasn't started yet." There was a pause, and he added, "The sun's nearly up now, so it isn't that dark. The teacher at the gate is a cheetah... That's rare. I haven't seen any cheetahs in Warfang before. Her eyes are really bright blue—I can see them even from here—and she's this pale yellow. Oh, and she's pretty tall and is wearing a dark red robe with black trimmings—it kind of reminds me of the guards' armour. I can't see any more from here."

Rukas and I quickened our pace and had reached the edge of the iron fence in no time. The bars stood taller than we did and spanned the whole district. Near the gate, the aforementioned cheetah stood, patiently waiting for us. As we approached and she began to speak, I noticed something in her hand—perhaps a list?

"Hello, children, what are your names?" Though her voice held a formal tone, it was warm and had a rich accent. It was all but swallowed by the local dialect, yet a bit of it still tinged her words and danced about enchantingly.

"Rukas. This is Tempo," Rukas said, and I could almost detect a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Hello, Rukas and Tempo, my name is Heather. I am the principal of all these schools. If you ever need to, you can find me on the ground floor of the high school, in the office. Rukas, you will be in fourth grade, so you'll be going to middle school. Your classroom is located on the first floor in room two. Proceed." Heather motioned towards the schoolyard.

Rukas, with a glance back at me that (though I couldn't see it) I knew was apprehensive, crossed into the courtyard and walked out of my field of detection. I hoped he would wait for me...

"Now," Heather said as she turned to me, "your classroom is located in the high school. You'll have to head to the back on the ground floor, take a left, and it's at the end of the hall. Can your friend help you get there, or should I have a teacher escort you?"

I stood in confused silence for several seconds until I realized that she didn't know. "Oh... I can get there myself," I murmured, head turned towards the ground.

Heather laughed lightly. "Please, Tempo, you have nothing to prove. Don't be ashamed because you need help."

"Rukas can help me get there," I said quickly, nearly stumbling over the words. I was just desperate to get out of the situation; I didn't like being in it at all.

Heather nodded. "Alright, go on, then."

I headed quickly through the gate, feeling Heather's eyes on me as she watched me go. Did she really think I was so helpless, that I couldn't take care of myself? As I walked along in the darkness, trying to find Rukas and make as little noise as possible, I had to rebuke myself for this thought.

_She doesn't know any better, _I thought. Of course I couldn't expect her to understand. Heather didn't know me, could not understand what I had been through. Perhaps I might have told her that I had my own way of seeing, but she still could have thought me weak, and there was really no way to explain my memories to her. And why should I have to do that for a stranger, anyway?

I managed to quell the anger and indignation before I could even feel it. It was just her nature to try and help; if I was in her position I probably would have done the same thing.

A shadow fell over me. Clicking my tongue, I looked around and realized that I had somehow wound up behind the high school, near the great wall. With a sigh of annoyance, I turned and prepared to head back into the schoolyard.

"Ouch!" I stumbled back and fell over, raising a paw to my now-bruised forehead. Well, _that _was certainly a person; I'd hit her hard enough to feel the vibrations!

"Oh, sorry! I'm really sorry!" The voice, regretful and embarrassed, came from the one I had run into. She'd fallen as well, but quickly stood up and began to wander in my general direction as if she wasn't sure what to do.

As I climbed to my feet, I felt as if that voice was... very familiar. It only took a moment for me to deduce who it was as the voice from a few weeks ago sang in my head. I shook my head to clear it and cautiously asked, "Cisily?"

"Oh, _sorry_," Cisily repeated that same phrase, "do I know you?"

"I'm Tempo. We... ran into each other a while ago." A light smile crossed my face.

"Tempo..." she murmured, and then exclaimed, "Oh, Tempo! It's great to see you again! Well, kind of." Cisily laughed lightly and shifted.

I tilted my head in confusion. "Kind of?"

"Oh, didn't you notice? I'm blind as a bat. The cloudy eyes usually give it away—people that have them tend to be blind, you know, but not always. Mom told me my eyes are the colour of the sea—do you think so?—and looking at them reminded her of gazing at an ocean covered with hazy fog." Cisily laughed again, seeming to take it pretty lightly. "That's what I'm back here for. I was trying to find the teacher who was supposed to help me get to class. Somehow we got separated... So what are you doing?"

"You're blind?" I asked in surprise, ignoring the question. So I _had _been right! "I... guess that means we're classmates."

Now Cisily was the surprised one. She stood still for a second, then coming to, said, _"You _can't see? But... when we met earlier, you didn't have anyone with you. How could you get around without anybody else helping?"

Sitting down, I leaned against the wall of the high school and decided there wouldn't be any harm in telling her. "I know a little... trick. It's a special way of seeing. Anything that makes a noise echoes," I kicked the school lightly and the thump brought Warfang's wall and Cisily into my perspective, as my hushed voice hadn't been loud enough for me to detect them, "and when the vibrations bounce off things, like you, I can tell where they are."

"Wow..." Cisily's voice dropped to a whisper as well. "That's amazing! Can you show me how to do that?"

"I don't know, Cisily," I said skeptically, though apologetically. "It isn't really something you can teach..."

"_Please," _Cisily begged, and I could almost picture the stormy-sea eyes (though I felt very distinctly I'd never seen the ocean) gazing pleadingly up at me. "My mom... She never lets me do anything on my own. If I go anywhere, she has to come with me, and she almost took me out of school because she was afraid I wouldn't be able to do it by myself—we just moved here and I never had to go before now because there wasn't a class for blind people in the old school; sometimes Mom would teach me, but not too often—and I'm sick of living under her shadow. If I could learn to walk around by myself and not run into people, she'd finally let me do things on my own. _Please, _Tempo!"

The speed at which she'd said all of that, breathing it out and hardly leaving a pause to start a new sentence, left me stunned and I had to take a few seconds to process all of that. Before I could speak, though, I heard Heather's voice ringing like a bell in the courtyard. She stood on the steps that led up to the high school, so her shouts were clear to me.

"Alright, children, quiet now! Listen!" I hadn't noticed the clamour from the students in the yard until it died down. Satisfied with the hush, Heather went on. "School starts in ten minutes! Make sure you remember your classroom number, now, and if you've forgotten come find me in my office in the high school!"

I heard the sound of the people in the yard moving about, pushing past each other and trying to get to their respective school. The clamour started up again, and I could hear the "Hey, don't push me!" of a young girl.

"Quickly now, students! You don't want to be late on your first day." Heather laughed to herself as if telling a joke, turned, and headed inside to make way for the older students.

_They're louder than Dreadwings, _I thought irately to myself; I hated it when people made so much noise like that and I vastly preferred the quiet.

It took me a few seconds to register what I had just thought._ What's a Dreadwing? _I managed to shake that off and put it aside for later; this was more important.

Could I even teach Cisily how to echolocate? It wasn't a voluntary thing; it just happened, and it had been happening since I'd first woken up so very long ago. But... perhaps I could show her. Yes, I would teach Cisily; at the very least I had to try. Cisily's life seemed to be pitiful, like she was always being watched and treated like a young child who could do nothing, and maybe I could help change that.

Nodding slowly, I turned to the dragon behind me who, now focusing her attention away from Heather, quivered as if me saying no might bring about the end of the world. "Alright, Cisily. I'll try to teach you."

I almost immediately felt her brighten up, sailing from the depths of despair into golden, singing joy within a moment. "Oh, _thank _you, Tempo! You won't regret it!"

"Why would I?" I asked blankly, allowing a brief flicker of amusement to tinge my words. Cisily was certainly an interesting girl. "Come on, we had better go before we're missed. I still have to find Rukas anyway." I walked forward but paused when I remembered. I hated to ask (hadn't I just been complaining about this?), but... "Do you need me to help you?"

"No, I can follow your voice," Cisily said amiably and added with a laugh, "Just tell me if I'm about to walk into a wall."

"I'll do that," I replied, allowing myself to laugh a little too. "Follow me."

Many of the children were still in the yard, but Cisily stuck close to me so I was in no danger of losing her in the crowd. Occasionally I would softly call Rukas' name, but I'd get no response except the dull roar of the crowd around me.

As we walked on for the next few minutes, searching in vain for Rukas, I began to feel a kind of mutual tie to Cisily; a friendship of sorts, though we hadn't known each other for long. It was, I thought, simply impossible _not _to want to be friends with Cisily. Her personality, which so far seemed to be near-constant happiness, shone brighter than the sun.

I felt as if I were a moth, attracted to light in all its forms. Perhaps I'd been lucky to awaken among five. Many people went their whole lives without finding one. And yet, here was another shining light standing just behind me, glowing brightly with the promise of future friendships and happiness.

I couldn't stop them from invading my cheerful thoughts. The memories splashed across my mind; I could hear the shatter, see the knife, feel the fear, know that there were more memories tugging at the edge and just waiting for the right time to enter. They bore sadness, pain, terror, and they were the reason I so desperately sought out lights to hide in. Despite this, I wanted to put the memories together so much and unravel the mystery surrounding my past, no matter the cost. Perhaps I believed that by getting all of them back, I could find the greatest light of all and dispel the darkness... forever.

I ran into something, probably because I made no attempt to watch where I was going. The crowd was too close for me to be able to make out any form; it was all just one blob of static. I could hardly even detect Cisily through the indistinguishable haze.

"Tempo!" The cry was so soothingly familiar that it left me speechless for a moment. I was beginning to get worried I wouldn't find him. Of course, I knew he'd be fine, but...

"Rukas," I said, making no attempt to hide the relief in my voice. "Where have you been?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Rukas said indignantly. "I saw you walking off, but so many kids started streaming in that by the time I got past them, you were gone."

"Sorry, I was looking for you."

Rukas huffed. "Anyway, who's she?"

"I'm Cisily!" Cisily chirped brightly.

"We ran into each other when I was looking for you," I said, and added under my breath, "Literally. Anyway, we better get you to class before it starts."

"There's no time. If you take me, you'll be late. I know my number; you two go ahead," Rukas said.

"You sure?" I asked. The Guardians did tell me to make sure Rukas got to class...

"Yeah. I'll be fine Tempo."

"Alright," I agreed a little reluctantly. "Just make sure when we have to leave, you wait at the fence for me."

"Yes, yes, _Mom_," Rukas said sarcastically and bounded away towards the other children who were now hurriedly trying to get into the building. Before he disappeared into the crowd, he called, "Bye, Tempo!"

"Bye," I said quietly. He wouldn't be able to hear me now. "Alright, Cisily, come on. We've probably only got two minutes left to get to class."

Cisily gave a sharp nod and walked ahead. "We're a few feet from the gate, right? I know the way from here; I managed to convince my mom to let me come and memorize the way to school from the gate a few weeks ago. Of course, I couldn't actually go in, which is why I needed a guide. But it's easy for me to remember where to go after I've been there a few times. It's just the _people _I have trouble with. I mean, I've already hit you twice, and it's impossible to know where everybody is, so I always run into them, which is why I needed the guide. But soon I'll know where the people are like you do, so it won't matter anymore. You—you _are _still going to teach me, right?"

Dizzy, I managed to at least work out the last part of the monologue—Cisily could speak so quickly in such a short time!—and replied, "Of course."

"Great! Oh, we should be almost—ow! That was a stair. I guess I didn't memorize the way perfectly." Cisily laughed. "Alright, you lead now."

Nodding, I stepped in front of her. She navigated the stairs fine, but once we reached the hallway, she stuck close to me. The whole place was filled to the brink with people making so much noise that I could hardly hear Cisily when she spoke.

"They're a lot bigger than us, aren't they?" she whispered. "I can tell from their voices."

I didn't answer; of course they were, every last one of them were older than I was. High school ranged from ages fourteen to eighteen, and I myself was just thirteen. That was only what Rukas had said and it might not have been true... Who knew? But I felt that the age was _right_.

Cisily and I managed to navigate through the older students and teachers who cried over the yelling, "Two minutes! One minute! We won't let you in if you're more than ten minutes late!" I breathed a sigh of relief once we turned down the nearly empty hallway and put the noise behind us.

"Are we there?" Cisily asked, voice still hushed, when I stopped before the door at the end of the hallway.

I nodded. Realizing she couldn't see it, I said aloud, "Yes."

This was it, the start of a new school year. Who was the other blind person? Would the teacher be nice or mean? And what would school bring; dullness or excitement, happiness or pain? Already the odds were in my favour; I'd made a new friend. But...

_There's only one way to find out, _I thought to myself. With a resolute tsk to bring my vision back, I walked forward and pushed the door open. And with that simple gesture, a new chapter of my life began. I did not know what it would bring, for it had only just begun.


	8. A Lost Girl

The smooth wooden door opened easily under my touch, emitting only a soft creak as it slid forward. Cisily was practically clinging to me as I stepped through the doorway and into the small room, which had only sparse furnishings: a long desk for the students, one for the teacher, and some bookshelves lining the wall. I supposed a class for blind children didn't exactly need to be lavishly furnished.

The teacher, a young presumably female dragon, looked up from sorting papers on her desk as we padded in. Quickly she stood and practically skipped over to us, her whole manner radiating bubbliness.

"Hello!" the teacher chirped. "You must be the new students! Oh dear, how on earth did you two get back here all by yourselves? Come, come, class is starting now that we have everyone here! Just sit down right over here—that's it."

As she escorted us to the desk, I thought to myself that her and Cisily were going to get along just fine, judging by the rapid-fire talking and speaking in exclamation marks that they shared. I let Cisily have the edge of the desk and sat in the middle, beside the mole who had a strange blob of static on his shoulder.

"Is there anyone else here?" Cisily whispered, comfortably curling her tail around her and putting a paw on the desk.

"Yeah, just one. A mole." The blob of static on his shoulder shifted. "I think he has a hawk."

The blob coughed, a sound rather more like a squeak, and screeched, "I'm right hereyou know! And I'm a _falcon. _Geez."

Rather taken aback, I was only able to mutter a quick sorry and shuffle around in my place. Who knew falcons could talk like dragons and moles?

"Children!" The teacher leaned back and clapped her paws together, getting our attention. "School should be starting now, so let's get to know each other, shall we? We'll start with me. You all can call me Suni, or Miss Suni, just Miss S—whatever you'd like!" Miss Suni stood up and paced in front of the board. "I've been teaching for just a few years now. It's really difficult to become a teacher for the blind, because you have to learn about all the subjects instead of just one. I really love it despite this! Every one of my pupils has been special and I love helping them rise to great things in spite of their disability. But enough about me, why doesn't one of you tell us about yourself?"

Cisily waved her hand in the air practically bouncing in her seat. After Miss Suni laughed and called on her, my talkative friend exclaimed, "My name is Cisily! And I love to go to the sea; it's my favourite thing ever! Once my mom took me to Wavecrest... you know, before it was taken out. I was really little when that happened. But I remember that I spent all day making sand castles and even though I couldn't see what I was doing my mom said they were pretty. And my dad took me swimming, and even let me swim by myself for a minute! They're rebuilding Wavecrest so we still get to go sometimes. Ooh, and sometimes I like to—"

Before Cisily could say anymore, I clamped my paw over her mouth. She continued mumbling through it as if it wasn't there, and I couldn't stop a laugh from escaping me.

Miss Suni giggled breezily. "I too enjoy the beach, Cisily. Unfortunately I haven't had much time to go there as of late. Perhaps next summer. Alright, who's next?"

The mole coughed and shifted, making his desires known, and his falcon piped up. "Ai'ght, so this is Maxwell. He doesn't say much unless he likes you, so imma do the talking and seeing for him. And my name is _Mariwether, _or Mari, whatever,not Maxwell, so if you're gonna talk to me then call me that, goddit?" Mary hopped about on Max's shoulders while she delivered this speech, but she finally settled down and ruffled her feathers.

"Well, Mari, thank you for joining us in class and helping Maxwell out. And Max, I hope you'll be able to become comfortable enough to share your thoughts with us eventually." Miss Suni took Mary's sassy disposition in stride, and I doubt she batted an eye. "Alright dear, with the blindfold. Tell us a bit about yourself."

I cleared my throat and told myself to be like Cisily. Well—not quite like Cisily, I thought as I bit my lip and held back another laugh. "Um, I'm Tempo. I live with my... brother, Rukas, and the Guardians at the Temple here in Warfang. I—"

Before I could say any more, Cisily interrupted me, bouncing in her seat like a little kid again. "Oh, you live with the _Guardians? _Really?! What are they like? Tellmetellmetellme!"

"Well," I said, thinking, "they're all pretty different. Ignitus is quiet and wise, usually lost in his own thoughts. Volteer is pretty high-strung but he's practically a genius, and Cyril acts like he's higher class than everyone, but he can actually be really nice. And Terrador is like Ignitus, kind of quiet a lot of the time, but he's really out-spoken when he needs to be."

"Wow, that's amazing!" Cisily exclaimed, her bouncing subsiding for a moment. "They don't go out a lot so nobody really knows what they're like."

There was silence in the room as Miss S shuffled through her lesson plan, and I took the time to let myself relax. The work hadn't started yet, but so far this wasn't too bad. The teacher was nice, Max and Mari were tolerable, and I always had Cisily to keep me entertained. Maybe I could learn to love this place.

"Alright, everyone, settle down," Miss Suni said amiably, clapping her paws again and striding back to her desk. "There's so much to learn and not nearly enough time to learn it, so let's get started! As I understand, you're all around thirteen or fourteen, which makes this year much easier on me as I can teach you all the same lesson.

"Now, the first thing we'll be learning in the class is a writing system that's been recently developed. You all probably know the alphabet and can write it if you weren't blind from birth, but reading is still impossible, and if you make a mistake while writing you won't be able to see your work. A few years ago, a mole by the name of Adrian developed a system of dots that will allow you to do things like read books and signs."

Cisily raised her paw. "Does that mean we have to do homework?"

Miss Suni snorted a laugh. "Yes. I suggest you all start bringing a bag to school, as I'll lend you all a textbook related to what we're learning at the time. But there's no need to worry for the next month or so, since all we'll be studying is this writing system and subjects such as navigating without a guide."

"Hey, Tempo's going to teach me how to—_ow!"_

I kicked Cisily under the table, causing her to send what I assumed was a dirty look in my general direction. I didn't want the fact that I could navigate easily to get out, as it was just another thing that made me stand out when I was trying to remain low-key.

Our oblivious teacher took it in stride, continuing on with the explanation. "The way this system works is by using hard but easily moldable clay. They also can carve it into metal, as is the case with signs. It can be hard and tedious to read with it but it's the only way. Now here's one with the alphabet on it; each letter consists of four dots in two rows. Pass it around and try to memorize the letters, and in a day or two we'll start on numbers and punctuation..."

The next four hours were spent trying to memorize the alphabet and writing simple sentences on our own pieces of clay. As Miss Suni explained, the makeshift parchment was used multiple times by dousing it with water and smoothing it out until it was too thin for further use.

A distant memory came back to me as I wrote, of spending hours curled by the fireplace with my snout buried in one of the books from my mother's small collection. I remembered glimpses of trips to Warfang, heading to the library and my mom letting me pick out a book from the massive collection.

So far it was the only memory that had slipped in quietly and peacefully instead of violently. I knew that wouldn't last for long, but I was content to enjoy it for the time being. She was still a blurry, faceless blob, but for once I remembered something that wasn't laden with horror and tragedy.

We were pulled out of our lesson by the ringing of the school bell, so loud it shook the floor, that announced our break. The Guardians and I had both neglected to get food for my lunch in the excitement, but Cisily was happy to split her meal of deer jerky, somewhat of a luxury, and biscuits.

"My mom always packs way too much anyway. I never can finish it." Cisily laughed, chattering on for the next ten minutes.

Once we had both finished, Cisily hopped up, dragging me out of my seat, and skipped to the door. "We're going to the courtyard!" she called back decidedly.

"Girls, are you sure that's really a good idea?" Miss Suni asked, wincing as Cisily ran into the wall.

I guided her around it to the door. "We'll be fine, Miss Suni. I know my way around."

"Alright, but try to be back when the bell rings. Be careful and don't get lost!"

The halls were clear except for a few stragglers, luckily for Cisily, and I managed to get her outside with no casualties. The courtyard was nearly as packed as it had been this morning, though. Turning to Cisily, I said, "Listen, I'm going to go look for Rukas, make sure he's doing alright. Can you go to where I met you this morning?"

"Yeah, I know the way," Cisily chirped, turning and skipping off.

Easier than I thought. I headed into the sparse crowd, trying to identify Rukas among the masses. There were a couple about his size but they didn't quite have the same horns and spikes, or lacked Rukas' fiery aura. It was possible Rukas was still in the classroom, or maybe just being a bit shy and hanging out behind the buildings. I decided to check there and give up if I couldn't find him.

After a quick search with no results, I headed back to Cisily, figuring he wouldn't be behind the high school, which he wasn't. Cisily was there as promised, but there was someone else: another girl. She sat curled on a little blanket, quietly eating her lunch, dressed in a hood and cloak that was draped over her whole body.

Walking over to Cisily, I whispered, "Who's that?"

"No idea," she murmured. "I nearly tripped over her and said I was sorry, but she just ignored me. She's a little weird."

"Why?"

"I heard about her; she's always wearing a cloak even in summer, and doesn't even acknowledge people who talk to her. Isn't that strange?"

I didn't think it was really fair to call her weird. I mean, if it hadn't been for Cisily, I might be the same as her. Rising, I padded over to her and sat down. She was little, barely reaching my chest, and didn't look up as I plopped down in front of her.

"Hey," I said softly, not wanting to startle her. "Did you see a kid when you came out here? He's eight years old, red fire dragon. I can't really see him so I don't know any more than what he told me, but his name is Rukas."

Slowly, the girl looked up as if coming out of a trance. She tilted her head, seeming to examine me. "A... little fire dragon?" she breathed, her voice soft.

"Yes. He's my—um, my adopted brother."

"I think—" she hesitated, then spoke a bit above a whisper. "He was with, u-um, a few other kids, but they went inside."

"Alright. Thanks." I observed as she shyly picked at her food. "What's your name?"

She picked a little more for a few seconds, then finally said, "Emali. But, um..." She paused, always speaking with hesitation and a bit of a stutter. "My friends used to c-call me Emmy."

Cisily perked up and bounced over, startling Emali and causing her to retreat further into her hood as she nearly crashed into her. "Can we be your friends?"

Emali stared at my hyperactive friend for a few seconds. "Is she a bully?"

"Perhaps a bit overenthusiastic," I said, as Cisily laughed sheepishly, "but not nearly. That's Cisily, I'm Tempo."

Emmy regarded us for a moment, and I could feel her relax and peek out of her robe a bit. "So you're both the... blind kids? How did you, um, get over here?"

Cisily and I settled down near the shy dragon, the sun-warmed grass heating our bellies. "I can sort of see what's around me, so I can get around well enough. Cisily not so much." I smirked, recalling the many people in things she's run into the one day I've known her.

"She tripped over me," Emmy said.

Cisily giggled. "Oops. I can't see at all so I do that a lot, like a lot a lot. One time there were a bunch of these kids laying on the ground beside each other and I was trying to find my mom, so I didn't see them and I tripped on them, and I fell on like three of them and they kicked me off, and _then _I ran into this mole and knocked her over and she knocked over this big dragon, actually I think it might have been Terrador even though this was like five years ago and he's not from here, but he was really nice about it and had a deep voice, and he helped calm down the mole since she wanted to hit me, and wouldn't it be really cool if it had actually been Terrador? like really really cool, and hey Tempo do you think I could come over for a sleepover tomorrow night because then I could meet all the Guardians and that would be just _amazing_, and I could find out if it was really Terrador after all, and also I could show you how to make a cake and we could stay up all night talking and sneak out to run around the town and try not to get caught by the guards, but we probably would, and then they're going to have to get our parents and they'll be _soooo _mad, and—"

I clamped my paw over Cisily's mouth again. "Cisily, you're going to keep talking until the bell rings." I laughed. "And you're probably scaring Emmy."

"Oh, I don't mind," Emmy said with a slight smile, tilting her head. "I-I don't hardly talk to anyone, so it's nice to have someone to listen to."

Just then, the deafening ringing of the bell reached our ears, signaling the end of lunch break. Kids started streaming back into their respective buildings, a few mooring about and stalling for time. Emmy picked up her book and folded her blanket, throwing them into her bag.

"Hey, meet us here tomorrow again?" Cisily asked with a grin.

Emmy seemed to be startled, as if she hadn't expected that. A faint smile appeared on her face. "Y-yeah... that'd be nice."

"Great! Seeya then, Em!" Cisily grabbed my wrist and happily pranced off with me in tow, but not before running into another wall and sheepishly letting me take the lead.

_I'm making friends left and right, _I thought to myself as I carefully navigated through the swarms of students. Wouldn't be long before I was friends with the whole school district at this rate. I smiled to myself. It was nice to be able to take my mind off the past for once, and instead make room for the future.

Miss Suni greeted us warmly upon our return, and we continued with our practice. Cisily and I, becoming quite proficient in the blind language, were soon passing notes between each other and stifling laughs. I felt a bit uneasy though—I could feel Miss S's eyes on me and I knew the question was coming.

Tilting her head, the teacher asked me, "Why do you wear a blindfold, Tempo? You don't have to be ashamed of your blindness."

I stiffened. Definitely didn't want to go down that road. Just talking about it was a trigger, and honestly I didn't want to know. "Oh, it's not that," I forced out. "I, uh, don't want to scare anybody."

"It's not scary, Tempo." Miss Suni's head was practically at a 90 degree angle now. "Why don't you take your blindfold off, just to see how you feel? I'm sure your eyes are very pretty."

_They were, once. _"I... can't."

"Why?"

I know she had good intentions, but this wasn't something I wanted to delve into. What if Cisily thought I was some sort of freak? "Because I don't... have eyes."

Miss Suni's paw flew to her mouth and Cisily gasped, gaping at me. Max didn't seem to react but Mary hopped onto the desk. "Cool! Can I see?"

"Tempo, how did this happen?" Miss Suni asked, her voice laced with concern.

My body began to quiver and I felt heat radiating from my wrist as the scar began to glow, shining through the cloth. I fought back the memory with all my will, but it overtook me, throwing me out of reality and into oblivion.

* * *

><p>The memory was slight. I was aware of dew-laden fields peppered with bright flowers, the sunlight only interrupted by the occasional tree. I saw myself laughing as I ran through the field, trampling the grass and sending rabbits scattering. So innocent. So unaware.<p>

The sweet smell of flowers and crisp grass was shoved aside by the rotten smell of death. The forest clearing that had been full of life a moment before suddenly went dead quiet, but I was too busy examining a poppy to notice until the rank scent choked me and a shadow fell over me.

"Well now, boys, look what we've got 'ere." I wrinkled my nose at the strange furry creature's bad breath and took a step back.

_The first time..._

Before I could react, the creature snatched me up by the back of my neck and laughed at me as I struggled, dangling in the air. A scream erupted from my throat, but it was soon cut off as the ape punched me in the head, knocking me unconscious.

I awoke to darkness. My first instinct was to struggle, but realizing I was in some sort of bag, I made my body go very still. My heart seemed as if it was trying to burst from my chest.

"So what do we do with the runt? Kill 'er? Ain't nothing more than another mouth to feed."

"Who the 'ell said we were gonna feed her?"

"Little whelp like that will starve in a day. I say we kill her now and spare ourselves the whining."

"Will you two shut up?! We run the brat through, someone finds the body, Warfang guards're gonna know we were here. Then our cover is blown. Take her back to the Well and see what Malefor says to do with her, then just kill her there or leave her to rot in the cells."

I heard the other two apes grunt in approval, but one other spoke up. "Even the little ones can hurt us with that breath of theirs."

The leader of the group laughed. "She's a white dragon. White ones either ain't got nothin' or ain't got nothin' that can hurt us. Ol' Mally might want her for testing. I hear tell the elements take easy if they don't gots an element in the first place. Even better if they're a little whelp."

Unable to contain myself I began to thrash around in the bag, kicking and tearing at it, but the cloth was too thick to slice. One of the apes kicked the cart and their conversation ceased.

It went on like this for what seemed like weeks. Wherever they were taking me, it was somewhere far far away. Occasionally they opened the sack and shoved a piece of meat into my mouth but besides that there was nothing to do but lay in my confinement and wait.

The air began to turn frigid, chilling me even inside the bag. Before I even knew what was happening I was hoisted up and out. Snapping out immediately, I managed to catch a wrist and earn a howl from the wounded ape. I broke off and ran for it, but as I jumped off the cart, I landed in a thick pile of snow. Disoriented, I managed to right myself, but before I could take off again I was grabbed by the neck and saw a flash of steel.

"I suggest you don't try that again. Ya ain't worth it, little runt, we'll kill you if you become trouble. Besides—" the ape gestured all around him, and I turned to see nothing but snowy mountains and trees to the horizon, "where would you go? The Well ain't cozy but at least it's warm."

The ape dropped me back into the cart and sheathed his dagger. Reluctantly, I stayed sitting there.

"Whatever you feel like you've lost," the ape said gruffly to me, not turning his gaze off the horizon, "you're a thousand miles away from home and you're not going back. That's something you ain't never gonna change. All you can do is get used to it."

He wasn't unkind about it. He, like most apes, must have been taken away from his only family; his only home. Like me. A lifetime of pain and war had hardened him, twisted him, just enough to only leave a little speck of care inside him.

He wasn't warning me. He was giving me advice. And he was right... you either make it or you don't. Either accept that there are some things that you can't change, or fight it and fail. Get used to it.

I saw it in the distance, peering around the hound that was pulling the cart. A mountain that seemed to be reaching for the sky as it was being dragged towards the depths of the earth. It was blanketed in snow, but I could see hints of obsidian black peeking through it. Cracks split the mountain and sickly green light oozed out of it as if it was bleeding.

If there was one place I didn't want to go, it was there. But where else was there to go? I could escape if I tried, but the only thing that awaited me was the prospect of freezing or starving in the snowy wasteland.

Time seemed to speed up, until the mountain loomed over us. I could feel the memory fading, both a relief and a disappointment to me. I tried to cling to the memory, suddenly desperate to see what happened next, but to no avail. Just as I passed into the shadow of the mountain, it faded away.

* * *

><p>When I came to I felt four presences hovering over me. A large paw was on my shoulder, holding me steady, and a smaller one on mine. Slowly I sat up from where I had collapsed on the ground and was met with anxious gushing from both my teacher and Cisily.<p>

"Oh dear, oh dear," Miss Suni worried, pacing back and forth, "your guardians told me you might have problems but I didn't believe it'd be this bad. Oh dear..."

"What _was _that?" Cisily cried. "You just passed out and started thrashing like you were having a nightmare. I tried to grab your wrist and it—it burned me."

I sighed and leaned my head in my paw. So much for a good first day. "I have a, um, a condition." I easily slipped into the lie. I trusted Cisily but even she would think I was nuts if I told her about my past. "It's, uh, seizures. And blackout. Happens randomly. Doesn't even hurt me."

Miss Suni seemed to calm down at this, breathing a sigh of relief. "Just... just a condition. I do wish Ignitus had told me about the seizures but I suppose he must not have thought it would happen. Oh dear. Well."

Much to my consolation, the bell began to ring, signaling the end of the school day. Before Miss Suni could ask any more questions, I zipped out of there. Cisily called goodbye and chased after me, but she was quiet and I was relieved.

Pushing through the crowd of students, we managed to make our way outside. Cisily soon resumed her normal chatter and just about talked my ear off. I was hardly listening, just trying to remember to smile and laugh at the right times. Finally her mom came for her. Calling goodbye and a promise to meet up at the gate tomorrow, she ran off.

Left alone, I was forced to confront my thoughts, leaning against the iron fence as students streamed through the gate. I grimaced, recalling the harsh treatment of the apes. This wasn't anything new, was it? I already knew I had escaped once before being dragged back again, but this memory was just of the first time. It was good to have a bit of memory restored, but this didn't help me at all. It was just something new to haunt me.

Finally, Rukas bounded up to me. I cleared away the memories and smiled at him. "Hey, how'd it go? Make any friends?"

"Are you kidding?" Rukas laughed, practically skipping alongside me as we began to walk towards home. "This is great. We had to do a group project and everyone wanted to be in my group. The teacher is awesome too; he's really nice. I thought it was going to be horrible, but it actually wasn't too bad."

I smiled to myself. At least Rukas had had a good day. Raising my head to the wind, I sniffed. I could smell a storm coming. "Let's hurry, it's going to rain soon."

"What about you?" Rukas asked, suddenly serious. He must have picked up on my less-than-stellar mood.

"It was... okay." I could see even the slight movement of Rukas raising his eyeridge. "Me and Cisily met a really shy girl and convinced her to have lunch with us. And I'm learning how to write and read."

"Really? How?"

Before I could reply, lightning cracked across the sky and a torrent of freezing rain began pelting our scales. Rukas and I ran laughing down the street, yelping as the cold droplets hit us. I tried to shield him with my wing but we were running too fast for it to do much.

Rukas stopped to jump in every puddle he passed by as the road began to turn to hill. I wanted to yell at him because I knew he was going to get a cold, but I didn't have the heart to. Finally, we were sprinting up the hill leading to the Temple, both of us ready to get inside where it was warm.

Suddenly, Rukas' laughter stopped and he froze where he was standing. I caught up and skidded to a stop beside him. We were right by the doors; why was he just standing there?

"Rukas?" Thunder boomed again as I spoke, giving me a clear view of what was around me. I froze too as I saw it: the body of a female dragon, passed out on the doorsteps. Her arm was stretched up the stairs as if she had tried to crawl to the door and failed.

"Ignitus?" My voice choked out too soft and I had to scream just to force it out of my throat. _"IGNITUS!"_

It didn't take more than a few seconds for all four Guardians to burst out of the door. They looked at the shaking Rukas and then at the body, and quickly carted both of them in. I trailed after, flinching as I stepped in a substance much too thick to be water.

I heard Volteer's breath hitch as soon as they dragged the corpse into the light of the main room. "Ancestors... Tesla..." I could hear him choke back a sob.

"His sister..." Cyril murmured for the benefit of Rukas and I, and the room went quiet in respect.

But only a few moments later, a shuddering gasp broke the silence as the dragon struggled for her life. Volteer crouched down by his sister, who made a feeble attempt to sit up and moaned in pain.

"There were... too many..." Tesla whispered, her voice hoarse. She coughed thickly and whimpered in pain. "I tried... Tried to save Darkhollow. But it was too late. They were everywhere... streets swarming with apes and their hounds... screaming, so much screaming..."

"So... Darkhollow has fallen," Terrador said quietly.

"Yes." Tesla lay her head on the ground, giving in to her inevitable death. "Remember?" she whispered. "When Elly was hatched? She crawled to you first, Volty. I was so jealous. But now, she... Elysia..."

And that was how she died, with the name of her child on her lips. Later, Rukas told me as he pressed in fear against me in the dark, told me the way her eyes went cold and grey as the last whisper escaped from her soul.

"Tesla... Tesla, no! Not yet! Elysia, where is Elysia?!" Volteer's voice cracked with hysteria as he grabbed his sister, trying to shake her from death. But her body stayed limp and I felt her heart still in her chest.

Just as all hope began to die, Tesla's bag began to shake. At first no one moved, none of us daring to hope, and it was Ignitus who opened the sack. And when it fell away, there was the child, even smaller than Rukas. Elysia.

But it soon became apparent to everyone that there was something very wrong with her. Because even as she was ushered away from the horrific sight of her mother's dead body, even as she fell into a hug with the bereaved Volteer... She did sob, her tiny voice whimpering as she buried her head in her uncle's chest, as we all pressed around her and silently knew, every one of us, that she was now a part of this broken and dysfunctional family.

But those cries were the last time we heard her voice. Because something irreversibly shattered in the little dragon that night, and all the pieces of that broken girl scattered on the floor; shards of her too small to put back together.

Elysia would never speak again.


End file.
